


Heart Strings

by BookWyrm07



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music, Boarding School, Daddy Issues, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Loneliness, M/M, Past Liam Dunbar/Brett Talbot - Freeform, Roommates, Slow Burn, Theo is a Little Shit, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:15:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26290063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookWyrm07/pseuds/BookWyrm07
Summary: Musical boarding school au heavily inspired by Lindsey Stirling's song Roundtable Rival. Classical violinist Liam's world gets turned upside down by guitar god Theo.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 71
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

Theo tried to ignore his father. This was not how he wanted to leave, but the old man wasn't giving him much of a choice. 

"Anything you don't take will be sent to Goodwill," he said from the doorway.

Theo whirled to look at his father. "Seriously? I got a full scholarship to a private boarding school, Dad. It's not like I'm going to prison or joining a cult."

"You're still throwing your life away, and I can't afford to support your pipedream when you don't sell enough albums to feed yourself."

He fought not to roll his eyes, and finished packing. The guitar cases could probably hold a couple more t-shirts so he wouldn't have to leave any behind. "I never planned on asking you for money." He pulled on his backpack and slung one guitar over his shoulder. He carried his other in one hand and his suitcase in the other. "Bye." Theo shook his head. His dad said nothing.

\---

"I'm all packed and ready to go when Mason gets here," Liam said to his parents. He poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat to join them.

"Are you sure you don't want us to drive you?" his mom asked with worry. "How is Mason going to fit all of his, Corey's and your stuff in the car?"

"He and Corey moved in yesterday. I still can't believe the school approved them to be roommates."

His step dad laughed."I think it's very practical, and less awkward for you and Josh. Is he going to be your roommate this year?"

"No. He and Brett asked to be together. I've been paired with a new guy, a scholarship student." Liam's phone buzzed with a text. He quickly finished his cereal.

"Remember we're just across town. If you forgot anything I can drop it off or you can always come back on a weekend," his mom reminded him. 

Liam hugged his parents, grabbed his bags and his violin and went to meet his friend.

\---

First a bus into the train station, then an hour on the train, and finally a six block walk to his new school. It was supposed to be easy. Theo forgot to take into account the fact that he would be carrying a large suitcase, an overstuffed backpack and two guitars. It would be better if he took off his hoodie, but that would require him to stop, set everything down, then pick it all back up again. He pushed through. 

The school was amazing. A full concert hall was attached to the building. The map that came with his acceptance letter showed four small auditoriums, no doubt with perfect acoustics. He was dying to explore, but first he needed to set his stuff down and catch his breath. The letter also had his room assignment. It was on the fourth floor.

When he finally made it to his floor all the rooms had their doors propped open. Inside his room he saw a boy in an aqua polo shirt and skinny jeans with dark blond hair and the brightest blue eyes he'd ever seen. His first thought was please don't be straight, but he pushed that aside. Dating the roommate was a bad idea.

\---

The unpacking alone didn't take long. What took Liam so much time was catching up with all his classmates. Students could move back in anytime during the entire weekend before classes started. Corey flew in from the east coast, others from farther away. 

Technically he could still live at home, but he was an only child and his parents worked long hours. Home felt lonely. Here he was always surrounded by people who loved music as much as he did, even if he was one of the few with refined enough taste to love classical.

Liam's stomach did a flip when he saw the beautiful boy standing in his doorway. He wore a pink hoodie. His chin had a light dusting of stubble. Slightly wet hair fell into his green eyes. "Is this room 419?" he asked.

Liam nodded, and noticed how much stuff he was holding. He rushed to help, taking the suitcase and guitar from his hands and setting them on the bed. "Thanks," he said in clear relief. "The train had it's AC on full and I didn't think about how hot the walk would be with all this." 

He set down the rest of his stuff and pulled the sweatshirt over his head. Liam caught a glimpse of tanned, flat stomach dusty hair trailing into jeans. He pulled his t-shirt back down and Liam saw the familiar outline of Icarus and his heart sank. Great, another wannabe rock god, Liam thought.

He extended his hand and smiled. "I'm Theo Raeken."

Liam extended his hand. "Liam Dunbar."

"I'll introduce you to my friends." Theo opened the hard guitar case he'd been carrying, pulled a few more t-shirts off the top and showed an old, slightly battered but clean and highly polished acoustic guitar. "This is Oliver." He opened the other case and pulled out an electric guitar. It was the classic cherry red and white color scheme. "And this lady is Annie."

"Oliver and Annie… orphans?"

\---

Theo smiled, impressed. "You're the first one I've told who made that connection. I found both at a pawn shop. How about yours?"

Liam smiled for the first time since Theo came in the room. "Over here." He pointed at his desk. A violin rested on a stand. She wasn't just an instrument. Theo could see it was a work of art, polished amber wood, a black chin rest. "Christine."

"She's beautiful."

\---

The school was simultaneously completely familiar and totally alien. Theo had all the usual classes like math, history, and English, but there were also classes about music theory, production management, classes for every family of instrument, and type of music. There were gym classes, but they were mostly types of dance. He was still surrounded by teenagers, but almost all had instrument cases or drumsticks and the ones that didn't were singing or humming softly to themselves.

The teachers were different. They all insisted on being called by their first names, and he couldn't believe how hot most of them were. Scott, his guidance counselor/string instruments teacher had big brown eyes and great dimples. Not all of them were hot. His econ teacher, Bobby, was kind of goofy looking, but he seemed to know the subject and Theo was oddly curious to see him play the tuba in his classroom.

The cafeteria was nothing like he was used to. For starters it was only a cafeteria. It would never be pulling double duty for school dances or assemblies. It had real wooden tables and chairs that couldn't be folded and pushed aside, but the biggest difference was the food. It was real food, not the over processed frozen then fried or baked stuff they had served at every public school in the country.

"The food was the biggest culture shock for me. I couldn't believe a school could serve fresh veggies that had never touched a can," said a tall blonde guy next to him. He had a saxophone case in his hand. "Brett Talbot. My sister and I are the only two other full scholarship students that live here."

"There are only three scholarships?" Theo asked. He knew they only had so many spaces, but that was extreme.

"There's actually a lot more, but most are partial scholarships or they live in the city and go home every night. We're the only three broke yet talented enough to get a full ride."

While they got their lunch and sat down Brett explained that he and his younger sister, a ballet dancer, were foster kids and what he called "classic charity cases" but they were making the best of it.

Theo felt a pang of sadness. He missed his own sister. They hadn't lived in the same house for over a year, but somehow being in different cities made it even worse. "It must be nice being at the same school. I think my sister and I have sent about three hundred texts since I left yesterday."

Brett nodded. "Older or younger?" 

"Neither. We're twins and less than a minute apart so we don't know who was born first." Theo poked at his food.

"She play anything?" Brett took a large bite of his sandwich.

"She sings, but she dropped out and got her GED." Brett gave him a curious look. Theo nodded. It was always the same question when you said your sister dropped out of high school. "Our parents signed off for her to marry her boyfriend before their son was born."

Brett tapped Theo's guitar case. "What do you play?"

Theo grinned. "Guitar. Obviously." Brett rolled his eyes. "I play everything. I'm best at rock and blues, but I'm not bad at Spanish. Mostly I try to play the songs I like. You?"

"Jazz?" asked a boy with dark hair and brown eyes. He had a trumpet in one hand and his lunch tray in the other.

"I know a little jazz," Theo said.

Brett moved his bag from the chair right next to him, even though there were two other open chairs at the table. "Josh Diaz, my roommate."

Josh rolled his eyes. "Roommate," he said skeptically. Brett said nothing, but looked annoyed.

Theo ignored the interaction. It wasn't his business. They fell into a discussion about Kamasi Washington and Esperanza Spalding.

\---

Liam clenched his jaw and tried not to stomp. This was the worst first day ever. He got stuck sitting next to his ex-boyfriend in math, his tights ripped in ballet and if that wasn't bad enough his D string snapped when right when he was getting into the music. 

He went through the cabinet, but the school didn't have any of the right kind of strings. They had violin strings, but not his brand, and the ones they had made Christine sound flat and dull. He couldn't do that to her when he had some of the good ones in his room, but by the time he got there, put on and tuned the new string and got back to the practice room he would only have about five minutes left before his time was up and that would just leave him more frustrated than ever. He took a deep breath and vowed to keep a spare set of strings in his case.

His door was slightly open. Theo sat on his bed, bare feet on the floor. He wasn't wearing a shirt. At this angle Liam couldn't clearly see his back or chest, but his arm looked amazing. Annie, his bright red electric guitar rested on his thigh. Liam bit his lip. Theo's thigh was thick. His hair fell over his face as he watched his fingers move along the struts. 

Soft music hit his ear. It was a little funky, heavy on guitar, with smooth vocals. 

"We aren't supposed to practice in our rooms." Liam threw his backpack on his bed and riffled through his drawer for his extra strings.

"Without headphones," Theo said. The music still played.

"What?"

"We aren't supposed to practice in our rooms without headphones." Theo pointed at the earbud in his ear. "My guitar is playing through this. All you are hearing is Hendrix."

"Whatever. Just turn it off. I can't handle the noise right now." He knew it was the wrong thing to say. He knew he was being an ass, but the anger needed out, and he couldn't play, or even find his damned strings.

"You did NOT just call Hendrix noise.


	2. Chapter 2

Theo slammed his tray on the table. "How do you change roommates?"

Brett stared at him, and slowly chewed his bite of salad before he said, "You don't. I mean you can request it, but unless your roommate has threatened you or done something worthy of expulsion you're stuck unless you find someone willing to trade, but all four of you have to agree."

Theo stabbed at his pasta. "Is disrespecting one of the greatest musicians of all time worthy of expulsion, because I almost punched him in his perfect fucking teeth. He's the absolute worst. Then he gets all condescending when he can't even tell the difference between blues and rock."

Brett laughed. "He sounds like my ex."

Josh groaned. "Do you really have to keep bringing up Liam?"

Theo choked on his macaroni. Just yesterday he'd been hoping Liam wasn't straight, and even made sure to practice shirtless hoping to catch Liam checking him out, but that was before the snob opened his stupid mouth. Liam Dunbar, queer or not, was not dateable.

\---

Liam ignored his dinner. He sat with his best friend Mason and Mason's boyfriend Corey. "Then, he actually compared that pot smoking hippy to Mozart! Can you believe that?"

Corey cleared his throat. 

"Sorry," Liam winced. He couldn't seem to stop saying stupid judgmental things today. "I didn't mean that, Corey. I just mean this guy was no Mozart."

Mason and Corey shared a look. "What was the hippy's name?"

Liam shrugged. "Hennix? Henrick?"

Mason's eyes narrowed. "Hendrix?"

Liam swallowed. It wasn't often Mason got angry with him but it looked like this would be one of them. He hoped it was just the careless comment about his boyfriend's preferred anxiety treatment. "Yeah," he whispered.

"You need to apologise. You are totally, and completely the asshole here. Hendrix was a revolutionary. He did things with a guitar people didn't even know were possible. If anything Mozart should be honored by the comparison."

He nodded and picked at his food. Mason was never wrong about this stuff. If you couldn't trust your best friend to tell you when you screwed up, who could you trust? 

When he was finished he went straight to his room to wait for his roommate. His temper still had him on edge. The violin wasn't an option, and headphones would just make it look like he was ignoring Theo. 

It was still early but he changed into his pajamas. The pants were loose and unrestrictive. He did a plié. Some of the tension left his shoulders. He danced a few more moves and felt his muscles and mind relaxing. The door opened as he was mid pirouette. He lost his balance and landed on his ass.

Theo didn't laugh. He looked like he wanted to but held back. 

Liam blushed and scrambled to his feet. "I'm sorry. It was brought to my attention that I was being an elitist douche canoe. I sometimes forget that other people are just as passionate about their music as I am about mine. I will never speak ill of Jimi Hendrix, again."

\---

Theo smiled and offered his fist to Liam. "I'll be sure to wear headphones so you don't have to listen to my music."

"Thanks." He wore navy blue polar bear pajama pants and a t-shirt with a polar bear with big headphones and sunglasses and the word chillin' under it. 

Theo couldn't believe how cute he looked. Brett had said that Liam was moody and had a temper, but was for the most part, a decent guy. It was starting to show.

"That was ballet, right?" He decided to extend his own olive branch.

"Uh, yeah." Liam blushed. "I don't usually fall during pirouettes, though." 

"How can you be in Malia's class when she's in a leotard and not just stare dumbly at her legs?"

"Easy, I'm gay."

That answered Theo's question. "That would make it easier. I'm bi and so many of the teachers here are hot AF. I'm worried I'll fail half my classes."

Liam smiled. "I'm glad Scott doesn't have a regular academic class. I had a huge crush on him freshman year."

"He's like an adorable puppy that you're afraid to disappoint," Theo agreed. "I'm glad I don't play the drums. History is hard enough with Stiles. I don't think I could ever concentrate around him if I saw him sweaty and shirtless behind a drum kit."

"I failed a math quiz last year when Isaac changed from contacts to glasses."

\---

Theo moved Liam's discarded pajama pants off his desk. "Seriously, keep your dirty laundry on your side of the room."

Liam tossed the pants in his hamper. "At least I wear pajamas," he muttered. 

Theo smiled. He noticed Liam checking him out their third day, so he continued to go shirtless when possible, and slept only in his boxer briefs. It would never go beyond a little showing off, Theo decided, but he would be lying to say he didn't enjoy the attention.

Liam complained about it, and left dirty clothes and garbage around. Theo shoved it all back to Liam's side of the room, smiled, and put on his headphones. There was some bickering but no real fights like their first day.

Theo shoved his phone in his pocket, slung his backpack on one shoulder and Annie over the other, and was out the door. In less than three steps his phone chimed a text. He opened it to see a picture of a young toddler in a highchair, his freckled face covered in purple goo. The caption read "your nephew loves blueberry oatmeal"

Theo: I can see that. A bath after every meal?  
Tara: pretty much  
Tara: I talked Dad down. He isn't giving away your stuff but he's still mad.  
Theo: thanks. Let him be mad.  
Tara: I think he'll come around by Christmas  
Theo: I don't. I'll plan to stay here for the holidays  
Tara: I can talk to Nolan about you spending Thanksgiving with us  
Theo: Thanksgiving touch football with the Holloways? Hard pass  
Theo: thanks though. Seriously, thanks  
Tara: how do you like it there?  
Theo: my roommate is a snobby rich kid, but he's hot  
Tara: how hot  
Theo: I made friends with his exbf so that's awkward  
Theo: 9.. 7 with snob deduction  
Tara: I need pics!  
Theo: sorry g2g class  
Tara: lies! It's not even 8  
Theo: 0 period senior assembly

He silenced his phone and took a seat in the last row of the auditorium. Students and faculty milled around, a lot of faculty he noticed. He looked around again. All of his teachers were here.

"You're Theo, right?" Two pretty girls stood behind him and to the side. One, Tracy, he recognized from his strings class had highlights in her dark brown hair and Asian features. The other, he didn't know, had chocolate brown hair and big round brown eyes. 

"Yeah," he said.

Tracy climbed over the back of the chair and sat next to him. The other girl gave her a disapproving look and walked around then back up the aisle to sit next to her. Neither had instruments or more than a notebook and pen with them.

"Where's your violin?" Theo asked.

"We don't need instruments for this. They're just giving us all the requirements for the Senior Semester Concert. This is Hayden." Tracy pointed at the other girl.

"So is our adorably annoying Liam driving you crazy yet?" Hayden grinned.

Theo laughed. "Adorable and annoying are good ways to describe him, but I don't think I would say the annoying is in any way adorable."

"I'll never understand how Mason shared a room with him for three years."

Two guys Theo didn't know sat in the row in front of them. "Easy," said the cute black guy with an earring, "I can tell Liam when he's being an elitist douche canoe, or needs to go blow off steam without him getting mad at me. It's a best friend perk."

"If you get along so well why'd you quit living with him?" Theo asked.

"My fault," the brunette with a square jaw and laughing eyes said. "I'm Corey. I made Mason an offer he couldn't refuse, live in BJ's." The group laughed. Mason just nodded.

"I don't believe this," Liam pouted and he sat next to Mason. "I'm two minutes behind you and you all make friends with my nudist roommate."

Hayden, Tracy, Mason and Corey, all made a show of checking Theo out. Theo grinned. "You have never seen me naked."

"Practically! Every time I complain about something you take your clothes off." Liam blushed. 

Theo grinned wider. "It makes you stop."

"I finally understand why you complain so much," Corey muttered.

"All right! Enough talking, time to pay attention," Scott called from the small stage. "Most of you already know what this assembly is about, but I'm still going to explain so there's no doubt. Every semester we hold a Senior Showcase Concert. Scouts from every performing arts college in the country will be in attendance. This isn't an audition for them, but it could get you one. 

"This will also be a major part of your grade for your performance based classes. I count it as twenty percent, but that number varies depending on your teacher. You will be responsible for every aspect of your act, even lighting and choreography. Your song must also be original.

"I know this sounds like a lot. It is a lot, but you won't have to do it all yourself. Even solo artists need a team. You will be graded on cooperation, and creative input." He paused and looked around the room before he asked, "any questions?"

Theo was surprised when he was called on first. "What if a student doesn't write their own music?"

"Then join a group with a composer and find another way to contribute creatively." He pointed at a girl on the other side of the room.

"I take piano, voice and dance, how do I do all that in one performance?"

"Very carefully, or be in more than one group, but be sure to communicate with your teachers, so they know what work you're putting into each piece. We don't expect you to write two songs so you can perform them both, but you could put most of your creativity into singing and dancing a song you wrote, then join another group where the piano is the majority of your contribution." 

He asked again for more questions. When no hands went up he nodded. "The concert is Saturday, January 16th. Don't be late for first period."

Theo put away his notebook, and asked, "So, anyone need a guitarist?"

"We could do something," Tracy said. "My violin, your guitar, but it would be a secondary thing for me. My main thing is going to be A-Chimera, our a cappella group."

Theo shook his head. "I want to get my main gig decided before I commit to a secondary. A-Chimera?" 

Tracy, Hayden, Corey and Mason all giggled a little. "Last year in biology Lydia was talking about genetics, and we all realised we had two sets of DNA, so we're all chimeras."

"She had your DNA tested?" Theo asked skeptically.

Corey grinned. "No, we all knew independently. I had a bone marrow transplant, Tracy had skin grafts, Hayden got a kidney and Mason ate his twin."

"Absorbed, in utero," Mason corrected. 

"Ate your twin sounds cooler." Corey shrugged.

"Not to someone with a twin." Theo shuddered. 

The four chimeras walked off talking excitedly about what song to do. Liam stayed back. "You and Brett are friends, right? He writes, and I'll never admit I said this, but he's really good. You guys could probably work together." Liam smiled.

Theo felt his stomach flip and smiled back. "Thanks. I'll talk to him."


	3. Chapter 3

Liam set down his pencil and rubbed his eyes. Stupid state requirements for science. At least he wouldn't have to deal with it next year. Music degrees didn't require chemistry. 

There was a loud twang and Theo cursed. "Hey, Liam, where does the school keep the extra strings?"

It took a second for Liam to register the question. "The school strings suck. You'll get better sound using your own."

Theo rolled his eyes. "I don't have any, but even if I did I seriously doubt they would be better than the ones here. I've always gotten the cheapest ones I could find."

Liam was rocked by the statement. He asked the question that came to mind without thinking. "Don't you care about your sound?"

Theo's eyes flashed with anger. "Of course you have a special type, probably even a favorite brand. Who buys your strings?"

Liam was trying to figure out why Theo was suddenly mad. "I do."

Theo raised his brows. "Really? With your money, or with your parents money?"

"I get money from my parents, but I order them, research the brand and their materials."

"That must be nice. You want to know how I got the money for my strings, hell even my guitars? I worked: walking dogs, bussing tables, even a summer spent as a lifeguard getting hit on by people older than my grandparents." 

Anger flared in the pit of Liam's stomach. How was he supposed to know any of that? He took a deep breath before he said anything else to set Theo off.

"You know what, forget I asked. I'll take care of it in the morning." He pulled on a t-shirt and stormed out of their room, slamming the door behind him. 

The anger faded, and left only confusion in its place. He picked up his phone and sent a text.

\---

The anger had calmed a bit by the time Theo got to Brett's and Josh's room. He knocked. Brett opened the door in a pair of loose athletic shorts. He looked as angry as Theo felt.

"I'm pissed at Liam and need to not be in my room right now," Theo said, skipping right to the point.

Brett waved him in. "Good. We can bitch about our roommates together." He grabbed a reusable water bottle decorated with wooden stakes, crosses and in big black letters "Holy Water" from the top of his dresser, took a sip and offered it to Theo.

"I'm not thirsty."

"It's not water." Brett grinned.

Theo took a tiny sip, and felt the burn of cheap alcohol, followed by a vanilla aftertaste. He coughed. "Is that vodka or rubbing alcohol?"

Brett laughed. "I haven't gone blind yet. It tastes a lot better when you mix it with stuff like orange juice or a Coke, but tonight feels more like a 'drink straight from the bottle' kind of night."

They settled in. Brett laid on his bed while Theo sat on the floor leaning against it. They passed the bottle back and forth taking sips. Theo explained the fight. He didn't even know if it could be called a fight. It surprised him when Brett laughed.

Brett laughed. "You probably just really confused the little guy. His parents are stuuuuupid rich and extremely supportive. It probably never even occurred to him that you might have to pay for it all yourself." 

Theo wondered if it was the alcohol or if Brett's voice really got softer when he called Liam Little Guy. "You still like him, don't you?" There was a knot in his stomach. Jealousy, he recognized, and reminded himself that Liam Dunbar was not dateable.

"Like Liam? Nah." Brett took another drink. "I regret how it ended between us. I hurt him, badly, and he didn't deserve it. It also killed my friends circle."

"What happened?"

"He walked in on me balls deep in my roommate."

"You started fucking Josh while you and Liam were still together?" Theo tried to keep the judgment out of his voice, but was fairly sure he failed.

"Nope. Josh lived with Corey last year. I was living with and fucking Sean, and also Garret… and Sydney, and none of them knew about the others."

"So, you are a bastard and a slut." This time he didn't try to hide the judgment. 

Brett took a long pull from the bottle. "Yep, and now Josh wants to take our nice no pressure casual thing into being real boyfriends, like I won't end up doing the same shit to him."

"I thought you were boyfriends. How many shide pieces you got now?"

"None," Brett whispered.

"You obvioush-sh-ly care about him. Do you lurrvv him?" Brett hit him with a pillow. They both fell into giggles. "All I meannn is if the only differenshes is the label, whatsh ta big deal."

"You're drunk." 

Theo nodded. "Yep!"

"Are you going to stop being my friend because I cheated on Liam?"

Theo thought for a moment. "Nah. That was before I met you, and you sheem shorry. I've been cheateded on, though, sho..."

"What did you do when you got cheated on?"

"I fucked his shiser?"

"His what?"

Theo laughed and tried again. "Sister."

Brett laughed. "And you say I'm a slut."

"At least I dumped Joran before I nailed Olivia."

They were still giggling when Josh came home. "I'll go sho you can talk."

When he got back to his room he pulled off his shirt and fell on his own bed. Liam looked like he wanted to say something, but Theo spoke first. "Shorry," he slurred. "I took my own crap out on you. I was being a dick."

"It's okay. I'm sorry, too." Liam sounded surprised. "Are you drunk?"

\---

While Theo was out Liam texted Mason. He was so grateful for his best friend. In a couple of texts Liam was reminded that not everyone's parents were, a: financially well off enough to buy expensive stings because of slightly better sound and b: supportive of their kid's choice to go into music. The fact that Theo was on scholarship implied the former and his refusal to talk about any family other than his sister and her son implied the later. 

Liam was ready to apologise for his assumption before Theo got back. He even went to the storage closet, grabbed a full set of electric guitar strings for Annie and wrote on the envelope where Theo could find them next time he needed them. Theo didn't even give him a chance to say anything. He just apologized and passed out.

The smell of Brett's cheap vanilla flavored vodka hit him like a punch to the stomach. How many nights had he sat with him drinking vanilla cokes while Brett charmed him? Sean and Garrett said they had done the same thing with the tall son of a bitch. Now he was pulling it on Theo while he was dating Josh.

The anger tightened his muscles, and boiled his blood. He caught a whiff of that damn vanilla every time Theo exhaled. He got up, put on his slippers and was careful not to slam the door behind him.

He pounded on Brett's door until it started to open. The tall boy wore nothing but a pair of light blue boxers. His chest and neck were covered in hickies. His neck had been clean during math this afternoon. 

Liam clenched his jaw. "It's creepy enough that you had to make friends with my roommate, do you have to try to seduce him as well?"

Brett squinted his bloodshot eyes. "The fuck you talking about? Are those duckie slippers?" 

"You got Theo drunk last night. We all know that's your M.O. Get a guy drunk and lay on the charm."

"Can't fuck drunk, no consent. Do you know your pants are covered in cute penguins?" He giggled. "That one's ice-skating!"

"You're still drunk," Liam scoffed. "Just leave Theo alone."

"Theo is my friend. That's it."

Liam rolled his eyes and waved a hand at Brett's neck. "Sure, I totally believe that."

Brett clapped a hand over his neck, eyes suddenly wide. "It's not- Theo didn't- Shit! You really like him."

Liam felt the blood rush to his face. His feelings for Theo weren't something he was going to discuss with his sleazy ex. "I just want to be able to have one friend in this school you haven't fucked." He spun on his heel and stopped down the hall, duckie slippers quacking with each step. He'd forgotten they did that, and hadn't heard them when he was angry.

A hand landed on his shoulder. "Liam, wait," Brett said quietly. Liam shrugged off the hand, but stopped walking. Brett moved in front of him. He waved at his neck. "This was Josh. Not that you're going to believe me, but I'm really trying to be less of a bastard. I'm also pretty sure Theo likes you, too."

Liam didn't say anything. He glared at Brett and stomped back to his room. The quacks of his slippers the only sound.

\---

Economics was boring. Theo tried to pay attention, but Bobby talking about cultural influence in advertising was making his brain numb. Light reflected off the tuba in the corner. He imagined what Bobby would look like playing it, curly black hair everywhere, cheeks puffed out and bright red. A light tap on his back interrupted his daydream. "What's up?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

"Was Brett flirting with you last night?" Josh asked in a whisper.

Theo almost laughed. "I complained about Liam and he talked about you. There was NO flirting involved. If you thought he was flirting with me why did you try to eat his neck?"

Josh sighed. "That was before Liam woke us up at three in the morning and accused Brett of trying to get in your pants the way he did… everyone last year."

"Liam did what?" Theo bit back his temper, but there was no keeping the ice out of his voice.

"He woke us up to tell Brett to stay away from you." His voice was a little shaky.

Theo turned to face Josh, and counted off each point on his fingers. "Brett isn't my type. We're just friends. You're my friend. I'm not going to fuck your boyfriend."

"How wonderful that you have better convictions than my ex-wife," Bobby said from right in front of his desk. "You also have detention."

Theo turned to see his very annoyed teacher. He mumbled an apology and picked up his pencil.

\---

Detention was a new level of hell. His old school treated detention like a silent study hall. Here they gave an assignment, a five hundred word essay on the importance of economics to a professional musician. He wrote why knowing how much you can charge and how many shows you needed to cover monthly expenses was necessary and finished quickly. He hoped to get out of there, but Bobby had just laughed and told him to get started on other homework. 

He didn't work on homework. He tried to think of ways he could contribute artistically to either of the groups he joined for the big semester concert, but his mind kept coming up blank. The pop punk band was heavily inspired by Fall Out Boy, and while he liked the band and the guys he was playing with it felt more like a cover than an original song. It even had the long angsty title of "You're The Reason I Don't Write Love Songs" that felt like it could have been ripped off a Fall Out Boy album.

His other group was a blues trio and he liked the song, but Violet had a vision and the performance was more about bringing that into being. He couldn't think of any good additions. He could suggest a solo for himself, but then he would have to write it, and writing music wasn't much fun for him. 

Between detention, first rehearsal with the pop punk band, dinner, and rehearsal with the blues group it was after nine before he made it to his room. 

Liam sat in his bed. "Must have been a busy day if you're back this late," he said without looking up from his book.

"Yeah, getting detention kind of sets everything back," Theo grumbled and set his stuff down.

"How did you get detention?"

"Thanks to your middle of the night meltdown I spent half of econ reassuring Josh I have no interest in fucking his boyfriend." Theo glared daggers at his roommate. "You know when I woke up to the strings, bottle of water and ibuprofen I thought you were trying to be nice, maybe even apologize for your own snobby bullshit, but then I found out you told my friend to stay away from me. Now I'm pretty sure you're a condensing prick who thinks I'm incapable of taking care of myself."

Liam dropped his book, his face red. "You don't un-"

"Shut up, Liam. I know when someone is trying to get in my pants, and if the talk Brett and I had last night was any kind of representation of his charms, then I'm amazed he managed to fuck anyone, let alone four different guys."

"Four?" Liam asked, his face going pale. "I knew about Garret and Sean. Josh and I were friends last year. Was he screwing him last year, too?"

Theo sighed. This rant was getting off topic. "No. Some guy named Sydney."

"Sydney!? Sydney is a girl."

Theo rolled his eyes. "Way to perpetuate the stereotype of the cheating bisexual, Brett."

Liam laughed bitterly. "I was trying to be nice. I didn't see it when Brett was charming me. I just saw his smile and his eight pack, then bam one night we're having sex instead of drinking."

"I take it you've never been to a public high school's homecoming party, because that's like every closet case jock."

"I've never even been to a school with a football team."

Theo shook his head. "My ex was a closet case football player. I was okay with keeping our thing secret, but then I walked into a party and found him making out with his beard."

"That sucks," Liam said.

"Yeah, well, I dumped him over text and hooked up with his sister an hour later." 

Liam gaped. "Seriously? Did she know you slept with her brother?"

"She thought I was friends with her brother. I told her the truth without outing anyone, and that her brother thought it was ok for my ex to have a fake girlfriend. She called him an asshole and we hooked up in a spare bedroom."

They laughed. "My point, Liam, is I know what it feels like to be cheated on. I wouldn't do that to Josh, and I'm sorry Brett did it to you."

Liam smiled. "Thanks. I'm sorry I overstepped."

Theo felt all his anger melt away. Why couldn't he stay mad at this guy?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What are the holidays without family drama?

"Do they always stop classes at lunch the Tuesday before Thanksgiving?" Theo asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I mean students come here from all over. Corey is from New York, and Tracey is from Indiana. They need time to get home. Well, not Corey. He's spending the holidays at Mason's house and he doesn't live far." Liam carefully folded a sweater and put it in his bag. "I'm only going across town, so I'll go tomorrow afternoon. When do you catch your train?"

"I'll be out of here by three tomorrow," Theo said. Technically, it wasn't a lie. He would be out of their room. There was a four hour block on a practice room with his name on it. Liam would be gone by the time he was done.

He was sure if he told Liam he was staying at school through the holiday Liam would extend a pity invitation and an awkward Thanksgiving with the Dunbars sounded only slightly less painful than being forced to play in the annual Thanksgiving Day Holloway family tackle football game while his sister laughed at him. 

"Want a ride?" Liam asked with a cute smile.

"Thanks, but nah, I'm just taking Annie and my backpack, so I won't be weighed down like I was when I got here."

"If you want a ride back, just text me." He sat on his bed and pulled out a notebook.

"Thank you. I don't think I'll need one, though." He was really touched by the offer, and tried to put that in his voice. Liam must have heard it because he turned that thousand megawatt smile on him before he focused back on his notebook and started humming.

\---

Liam sat back enjoying the conversation in the front seat. Mason was explaining all the new things that had happened with his siblings that Corey would need to know for Thanksgiving. 

"Oh, and Brandon quit soccer so he won't be hassling you to play," Mason wrapped up.

Corey laughed. "I don't care how much soccer I have to play with your little brother. It's better than going back to my parents penthouse and being shown off as the trophy kid, pushing me through their parties and forced to play for everyone." He took on a snobby tone. "This is our son, home from boarding school. Corey, play your clarinet for us." He rolled his eyes.

"I play stuff for my mom's Christmas party every year, but I never feel like I'm being put on display like that." Liam shuddered.

"Yeah, that's why I only go home for summer," Corey agreed.

"When's your mom due home?" Mason asked.

"She should be in the air right now, and home tonight. My step dad's shift doesn't start until Thursday night so we should be able to eat together before he goes in." He couldn't keep the grin off his face. Holidays were a little hit and miss for his family. Mom traveled for work and dad was a surgeon, they couldn't always be home when he wanted them to be, but everything was set to make this a perfect Thanksgiving.

Mason stopped at the end of his driveway. They waved a goodbye and Liam made his way inside. 

Ukalale music accompanied by a smooth voice singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" came through the speakers. He smiled at the man in the kitchen.

Danny had been hired as his nanny when he was just a baby. His mom, being single, wanted a man around for daily interaction. When Liam got older Danny's job turned more into household manager/family assistant. 

"That looks amazing!" Liam said, eyeing the turkey. 

Danny smiled. "Thanks. It's all brined and ready for you guys to pop in the oven tomorrow."

"You and Jackson doing anything fun?"

"Thanksgiving with his parents." He made a face. "But that means Christmas with mine on Maui."

"I bet Koa and Makana love that." Liam leaned on the counter.

"Grandpa giving surf lessons on Christmas, what's not to love?" He covered the turkey with a self-basting oven bag and put it in the fridge.

"Where's my step dad?"

Danny's face fell. "He was called into the hospital. There was a big car accident. He's in surgery right now. I'm sorry. I thought he called you. Want me to stay until your mom gets home?"

"What? No! Don't Jackson's parents live in L.A. that's a six hour drive. Go home, be with your husband and kids."

Danny kissed his forehead. "You're my kid, too. Call me if you need anything."

"I'll be fine, go."

His phone rang as soon as the door closed. Liam smiled at the "Mom" on his caller ID. "Need a ride from the airport?" he asked cheerfully.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry." Her voice came through distorted and computerized with long silences throughout. "Blizzard… bad signal… first… canceled… stranded"

"It's okay, Mom. Get home when you can. I'll be fine. I love you." Liam sighed at his phone and looked around his empty house.

\---

Theo's four hour practice turned into six. No one came to kick him out of the room, so he lost all track of time. Only when his stomach growled louder than his guitar did he realize the time. His fingers ached. He slung his backpack over one shoulder and Annie over the other, then made his way to the cafeteria.

He didn't see anyone on the way. The halls were so quiet his steps echoed. It all reminded him of an episode of one of his sister's favorite shows. A group of teens trapped in their highschool late one night with a giant angry werewolf. They survived the night, at least, he thought they did. 

A loud sound made him jump and almost scream. It took a few seconds for him to realize it was a sneeze.

"Sorry," Isaac said, wiping his nose on a tissue. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Theo laughed. "I'm okay, just getting myself worked up, too many horror movies."

"There's only about six students staying over the holiday, so meals will be in the kitchen. I thought I'd show you where." The math teacher gave a friendly smile. Theo thanked him, but Isaac waved it off. "Honestly, I have an ulterior motive for asking. Most of the students that stay over on Thanksgiving don't celebrate, either for religious reasons or they are international students. Do you celebrate?"

Theo shifted a little, and adjusted the strap for his guitar. "I usually celebrate…"

Isaac nodded in understanding. "But for some reason you don't want to go into, you aren't going home this year and you didn't want to impose on one of your new friends or worse, get a pity invitation."

Theo nodded. "Sounds like you get it."

"My husband is bringing me dinner tomorrow. I'll ask him to bring a plate for you, too."

Theo blinked in surprise. "Thanks, but I don't want to cause any trouble," he said honestly.

"You aren't. My mother-in-law cooks more than we can eat anyway, and he's already coming out here to eat with me." 

They were quiet until the door to the kitchen was in sight, then Isaac spoke again. "If you want to talk about why you didn't go home, I'm here to listen. If it's something simple like financial issues the school can help so you can get home for Christmas. If it's more personal we might be able to help in other ways as well. If you just want to vent, I can help you by listening and only listening, if that's what you want, too."

Theo noticed Isaac was careful not to touch him in any way, but his eyes were intensely sincere. Theo smiled at his teacher. "I appreciate that."

\---

As a kid Liam had issues dealing with anger. His mom had even sent him to therapy after he broke a window in his first grade classroom. Music changed everything. Danny took him to a production of Peter and the Wolf and he was in love. He begged his mom for a violin and lessons. She agreed but only if he agreed to something more physical as well, so he picked ballet. 

Seemingly, overnight he went from throwing chairs and getting in fights to dancing and playing out his emotions. The situation might have led to more bullying, if he hadn't already knocked out Aaron Inclan's loose tooth in a fist fight. Of course, none of the other students knew it was already loose. They just saw Liam punch a kid twice his size and that kid spit out a bloody tooth.

He set up in the living room, moving the coffee table and some of the chairs back. He took off his shoes and put on some pants that wouldn't restrict his movement. With a defiant grin at what Maestro Emerson would think of him dancing while he played, he got started with Shostakovich 10, movement 2 then his favorite part of Mozart's Requiem in D minor. It was only about eight minutes, but all his feelings of rage, sadness and disappointment faded away with the notes.

With a calm head he turned on the weather channel and watched the snow fall on Chicago, burying his mom even deeper. He set the remote on the coffee table and made some popcorn. Alone or not, it was still Thanksgiving and there were still traditions to follow. 

When everything was set up he took a selfie with him on the couch, three Blu Rays held fanned out on his chest.

Liam: Starting without you, but don't worry I can totally do another movie night with you guys when you get back.

He didn't expect a reply. Dad was still working and Mom had terrible service in the blizzard. He smiled in surprise when the typing dots appeared next to his mom's name.

Mom: wait! Let me get my headphones. I can watch on my laptop and text with you.  
Mom: ready. Which one first?  
Liam: Wizard of Oz, then Peter and the Wolf, if you're still up for it Mary Poppins.  
Mom: Start in 3  
Mom: 2  
Mom: 1  
Mom: now

They sat back across the country from each other and watched the same movie on separate screens, a black and white sky full of clouds, Somewhere Over the Rainbow playing.

\---

Theo woke up after noon. He looked at his fingers. They were sore. The callouses extra dry and a little cracked. He definitely over did it, and would need to rest today. After a long hot shower, it was nice not to have a line or worry about other people needing it, he got dressed and stared at his phone.

It had been two months since he spoke to his dad. He called. It rang twice, then went to voicemail. He hung up without leaving a message. If his dad was going to reject his calls he probably wouldn't listen to a message, anyway.

He took a deep breath and called his mom. He didn't know what to expect. He never did when talking to his mom. Their conversation could range from the mundane, school, music, I miss you, to the irrational, her covering her windows with aluminum foil, or making a shirt out of starburst wrappers.

She answered immediately. "Theo! I've missed you. How's the training camp?"

Training camp? Her voice was too fast, too manic. He spoke carefully. "I've missed you too, Mom. School is good."

"Riiiight, schooool," she drew the words out like they were code for something else.

He winced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Have you talked to Dad?"

Theo heard movement, a chair sliding on the floor, paper and fabric rustelling. He could see it all in his head. She was wearing her candy wrapper armor huddling under Tara's old desk, in the room she took over when Tara moved out. She whispered into the phone, "They got him. He's a Replicant. He has an army over today. I have to be careful."

He knew better than to argue her delusion. "Mom, when was the last time you took your meds? You know the pills protect you from Them. They can't see you when you take them."

"I told you!" She scolded, but still spoke quietly. "The Replicants have your father. They replaced him. They changed the pills. I can't take pills from one of Them."

He thought frantically. The train wasn't running today. "Okay, Mom. I can't leave here, but I'll get you some help. Is Grandma safe, or Tara?"

"They're still them as far as I know."

"Alright, I'll get one of them to come help you, okay?"

"They need armour to get through the house, and the password: trebuchet."

"I got it. I'll only give it to Grandma or Tara."

He hung up and immediately called his grandma. He was a little surprised when she answered. "Well, if it isn't the big fancy Rockstar." She said "rockstar" like most people would say "dog shit" or "politician".

"Grandma?" Tears threatened to fall, but he held them back.

"Your dad told us all about how you abandoned your family to go to that fancy school because you don't want to work for a living. Now, you're even too good to come home for Thanksgiving."

His voice turned to ice. "Dad made it clear I wasn't welcome, or I would be there, but that's not why I'm calling."

"Oh, of course not-"

"Grandma, Mom is off her meds."

"She is not. She's just not feeling social today."

"Happy Thanksgiving, Grandma." He hung up, then dialled another number.

"I wasn't expecting to talk to you until tonight." 

The warmth in Tara's voice made Theo smile. "Mom's off her meds. She says she'll only trust you or Grandma, and Dad has Grandma convinced I'm worse than Satan right now."

"I'm on it. How bad is she?"

"Not the worst we've seen. Armor and password, trebuchet."

He could hear her talking to someone in the background. "Does your brother still have that duct tape jacket he wore to prom? Think I can borrow it?" Back to Theo she said, "Thanks, and I'm sorry about Dad and Grandma. They're assholes. I'll talk to them, and call you tonight after mom is Taken care of."

\---

Cooking was easy. Liam had been helping to cook Thanksgiving dinner since he could hold a spoon, but doing it alone was a new experience. He considered waiting, but Danny already did all the prep work, and he was worried it would spoil before his mom got back, besides he had a plan. 

Normally Liam would be talking, and joking through the day while everyone cooked. Since he was alone he turned the music up loud, humming as he chopped, dancing as he mixed, losing himself in the rhythm and melodies. 

When the turkey was roasted, the potatoes mashed and the eggs deviled he took two containers, more sized for serving platters than dinner plates. He filled them with more food than any two people should rightfully eat in a serving, packed them in an insulated bag and borrowed his mom's car.

He shoved down his nerves. This could go very bad or be really good. He could have a nice dinner, or he could end up waiting alone for hours and eating cold potatoes and congealed gravy. He sent a text as he walked in the main entrance. 

Liam: I brought you dinner. Meet me in the cafeteria?

He chewed his lip waiting for a reply. He probably should have said something before making the drive across town, but he really wanted it all to be a surprise. Liam's heart sored at the reply. 

I'll be there in ten.

Liam got a table and set out the containers, he went as far as to set the table with napkins, real silverware from home and sparkling cider.

"This looks amazing," said Dr. David Geyer, Liam's step dad. He wore his white coat over blue scrubs. The bags under his eyes were only noticeable if you knew to look for them.

"I figured if you couldn't get home for Thanksgiving, I would bring it to you. I'm just happy I didn't get here right after you went into surgery, or something." He smiled a little. 

His step dad pulled him into a hug and kissed his forehead. "Best kid ever. Thank you."

\---

Theo was happy when he found the weight room open. He couldn't risk his fingers by playing more, but he needed to do something to relax after those phone calls. With music not being an option exercise seemed the best choice. 

An hour and a half later he was comfortably sore, less anxious, and ready for another long hot shower. Tara could take care of their mom. They had been taking turns since she'd gotten sick, and dad had taken up extra hours at work to cover the medical bills. 

He told himself not to feel guilty for dropping it in Tara's lap. He did double duty for the first year after she moved out. He'd missed school to stay home with her on bad days. He'd missed gigs and even been fired from mundane jobs for taking time to care for her. The guilt didn't listen.

Theo considered skipping dinner. Which would make him feel more pathetic, third wheeling his math teacher's Thanksgiving or eating a sandwich alone in his room?

"Happy Thanksgiving, Theo!" 

Theo jumped in surprise. Scott walked towards him down the hall. His smile was big and welcoming. "Isaac said you were going to join us for dinner," he said like an excited puppy. 

"Um, yeah. I didn't know you and Isaac were married."

Scott nodded. "We don't do PDAs at school, and go by our first names to avoid confusion, so that isn't all that surprising. We tried doing the Mr. McCall thing but got really tired of getting the wrong messages. Come on, we're going to eat in Isaac's Math room. He's already setting up."

All thoughts of ditching his teachers vanished. It didn't feel like a pity invite. Scott's wide smile and honest eyes really made him feel welcome. 

Theo stared at the table. Two of the two seater student tables were pushed together with a tablecloth over them. Three places were set with plates and cutlery from the cafeteria and a full, traditional Thanksgiving dinner was set out, albeit in smaller proportions than he would see at home and in tupperware, rather than bowls and casserole pans.

Scott clapped him on the shoulder, again. "My mom wanted us to have the full experience, even if it was just the three of us."

Theo was speechless. He tried twice before he managed. "Thank you, and thank her for me."

"She even sent three kinds of pie," Isaac added.

They sat and ate. The dinner conversation was kept light and pleasant. They didn't ask him why he stayed at school, but Theo felt he could have told them if he wanted to. Instead he pulled Scott into a friendly debate on who was the better guitarist, Keith Richards or Peter Townsend. Isaac looked back and forth between them shaking his head and laughing at their enthusiasm.

\---

Theo laid on his bed. He rubbed another round of lotion into his calloused fingertips, hoping the cracks would heal so he could play his guitar tomorrow. His eyes flicked to the clock again, 11:57pm. 

He sat up. What if Tara forgot? The holiday, their mom, her kid, husband and in-laws she had a lot to deal with today. He could call her, but the phone ringing at midnight could wake his nephew. He paced.

The phone rang at exactly midnight. "I was afraid you would forget," he said.

Tara snorted a laugh. "Pull your head out of your own ass, little brother, your brain is obviously being deprived of oxygen."

A smile split his face. "Whatever, little sister. Happy birthday."

"Happy birthday. Seriously, I would never forget to call you on our birthday." She paused for a moment. Ever since they were little and learned that a day starts at midnight they had made it a point to tell each other happy birthday at midnight. When Tara moved out they went from Theo leaning in her doorway to her calling him.

"Mom is okay. She went to the hospital without a problem. Dr. Fenris said she would probably be in a month or two to get stabilized. I also ripped into Dad and Grandma for how they treated you."

"You didn't have to do that."

"Bullshit. They needed to hear it. I couldn't believe what they were saying. You're not Yaya. I pointed out to them how bad it could have been for Mom if you hadn't noticed when you did, and how she had been hiding it from all of us, but you are the one who noticed. I think I got through to Dad, but you know how he is."

Theo snorted. "Yeah, it will be a week into December before he admits he was wrong, and probably New Years before he talks to me."

"Ten dollars says he'll swallow his pride and talk to you at Christmas, but not in time to get you out here."

Theo laughed. "No way am I taking that bet."


	5. Chapter 5

Liam was in a terrible mood. He'd only got to spend one day with his parents before he had to go back to school and they went back to work. He tried to focus on school, on his senior concert piece, but nothing felt right. 

Seemingly to compound his misery Brett and Josh were suddenly the kings of PDA, considering they were taking the crowns from Mason and Corey that was an accomplishment. He laughed bitterly. Who didn't want to see their ex boyfriend make out with their ex friend in the hallway, especially when they were still painfully single?

Strings was always his favorite class, and he always did really well in it, so when Scott asked him and Theo to stay after class he didn't know what to expect. Maybe Scott wanted them to tutor some freshmen or something.

The teacher leaned on his desk waiting for the other students to clear out. Theo looked just as confused as he did. "I need to talk to you both about your projects," Scott said.

Theo shrugged. "Which one I'm doing two?"

Scott shook his head. "I wouldn't say that. I would say you're playing guitar for two groups without providing any creative input. That isn't the assignment."

Liam laughed. He couldn't help it. The guitar god couldn't even write his own songs.

Scott turned his attention to Liam. "I wouldn't laugh. You aren't following the assignment, either, Liam. You are trying to do a group project about cooperation by yourself."

"I'm working with other people," Liam protested.

"Other performers or stage crew? Who has creative input on your performance?"

Liam looked down. He was mostly working alone. He didn't want to compromise his performance, especially when that performance could be a deciding factor for a Juilliard audition.

Scott crossed his arms and nodded. "I thought so. You guys are now a group of two."

Theo and Liam looked at each other then back at their teacher both started to speak at once. 

"You can't be serious!"

"Our styles are completely different. There's no way we can put a good song together!"

"Then you'll just have to work extra hard on cooperation. You can work together or take the zero. It's up to you, but remember this project is worth twenty percent of your grade, if you take the zero the highest you can get is a B-."

They both nodded, but glared at each other.

\---

Theo slammed the door to their room, and took a deep breath. This project was going to be terrible. Liam pushed through the door before he finished exhaling.

"Slamming the door in my face is really mature, Theo." Liam glared. "As the composer in this group it's only appropriate that I pick the song."

"Then pick something that I can at least adapt for my instrument without sounding like crap." Theo glared back. 

Liam took a step closer. "I don't want my song compromised. It's not my fault you play an instrument incompatible with good music."

Theo got right in Liam's face, their noses inches apart. "At least I don't think music peaked three hundred years ago. Do you even listen to anything that doesn't require a full orchestra?"

"Why should I listen to shit I can't play professionally?" There was a slight tremor in Liam's voice. Theo couldn't tell if it was anger, or something else.

"Bullshit!" Theo yelled. "There's a chick on YouTube that plays fucking dubstep on her violin! She's sold tens of thousands of albums and you're better than her."

Liam kissed him. One second they were yelling, then Liam's mouth was on his, and his lips were so soft. Theo had been telling himself since he moved in he couldn't date his roommate, but he wanted this. He leaned in, adding more pressure, his tongue slipped between Liam's lips.

Liam's hands slid up his stomach under his shirt, and he was suddenly hard, so hard. Liam was too. He could feel it pressed against him. He shifted his hips, but the feeling was all wrong. There were too many layers between them. His shirt was gone. He had to fight Liam's belt before he could get rid of his damn slacks.

They fell on the bed, finally free of the layers. Liam held him down, straddled his hips, kissed him hard, teeth hit teeth. Their shafts slid together. He groaned at the sensation and flipped them. Liam's legs locked around his waist, nails raked down his back. He thrust harder chasing the delicious friction of them sliding against each other. Wetness from their tips eased the glide. 

He moaned into Liam's mouth and Liam screamed his. They shook and trembled, rocking against each other.

When their releases covered their stomachs, they lay side by side pressed together in the narrow bed. Their bodies shook. "Next time," Liam panted, "you should fuck me."

Theo smiled. Liam wanted a next time, and he realized he did, too. "Okay." Theo kissed his cheek. "Time after that though, I want to bottom." 

Liam blinked wide eyes at him, then grinned. "I've never topped before, but I'm not opposed to the idea."

\---

Liam grabbed some of the clothes off the floor. He used his boxers to clean off his stomach and gave Theo a t-shirt to wipe up with. He licked his lips. "Were you serious before? Is there really a successful dubstep violinist?"

Theo nodded. "She's gone platinum a couple of times, and has toured the world, and been on Dancing with the Stars. She's really good."

Liam could feel his heart pounding. "But you think I'm better?"

"Yeah, or you would be if you didn't limit yourself so much."

The words echoed in Liam's mind. Was he really limiting himself? He grabbed his laptop, and opened it between them. "Show me."

Liam watched. A tiny woman in a fur vest played the violin while she danced in an ice castle. She was accompanied by a heavy electronic beat. It was beautiful. He could see elements of ballet in her dance. 

The song ended and he clicked another video. This one she played an electric violin that was covered in glitter. The video had a sci-fi feel and again, he loved it. 

Her dancing reminded him of his dancing while playing Shostakovich/Mozart. He thought of all the songs in his notebook. Tunes that could never be called classical. He could do this. It wouldn't be dubstep, but he could do his own thing. 

Why hadn't he considered doing this before?

A memory flooded his mind. He was maybe eight. He was so excited to show his teacher, Maestro Emerson, how he had taught himself to play one of Danny's favorite songs, Hey Soul Sister by Train. Danny had been so proud of him, so had his mom. 

Maestro Emerson looked like Liam had done something terrible. He sat down, looked Liam in the face and asked him if he loved his violin. When Liam nodded he asked him if he wanted it to be a career, because Liam had the talent and with dedication he could be a very, very good professional violinist. He could be better than Maestro Emerson himself, and he had been first chair with the Boston Philharmonic before he retired, but to play pop dribble was the work of a hobbyist.

He looked at the girl on the screen, and the beautiful boy in his bed. They definitely weren't hobbyists. Maestro Emerson could eat his bow. 

\---

Theo watched Liam more than the screen. As one song ended he clicked another video, not even waiting for the credits to finish. His expression seemed to include wonder, shock, joy and anger all at once. "You okay?"

Liam gave a surprised laughed. "I don't know. Does gravity still work? It feels like you just told me the Earth is flat and gave me concrete proof. I've always been under the impression that I had to be in an orchestra to play professionally, but this." He waved at the screen. "I have options I didn't know existed. My note book is full of songs that I thought no one would ever want to hear."

"Will any of those work for our project?" 

Liam set aside his computer and laid back. His head rested on Theo's arm. "Maybe, I have a call and answer piece that might work. You read sheet music right?"

Theo rolled his eyes. He took the notebook and looked over the page. His eyes ran over each line and the notes rang through his mind. "This is good. I'm impressed."

Liam made an offended noise and started to roll away, but Theo held him close. "I didn't mean it like that. It's nothing like what I expected you to write. I'm impressed with your range."

Liam relaxed into the other boy's body. "Thanks, I guess."

"This is really good. Did you mean it for electric or acoustic?"

Liam made a face, but realized that was more of Emerson's teaching. "Acoustic."

"Hmm. It feels like it would work better with electric."

"What? No! Look, I have a story to go with the music and it won't work with electric."

Theo smiled. "What kind of story?"

Pink creeped across Liam's cheeks. "A western, gunslinger versus sheriff thing."

Theo smiled at his embarrassment. He couldn't believe how cute he was. "That's perfect! We can make it steampunk."

"What?" Liam demanded. 

Theo climbed over Liam to get out of bed. He pulled on his boxer briefs, and smiled at Liam's obvious disappointment. "Get dressed. We'll play it twice, once on each type then decide which is better."

"I don't have an electric violin," Liam insisted.

Theo kissed him. "Tracy does. She'll share." He pulled the rest of his clothes. "Let's go. A-Chimera has a practice room. We can crash their rehearsal and take over."

\---

Liam hurried to catch up. Theo was down the hall with both his guitars before Liam even found his socks. He caught up at the stairwell. "They aren't going to like us taking over their practice room. We can talk to Tracy tomorrow." This was all happening too fast. He needed time to get his head around everything.

Theo paused and looked at him. His face softened and he took Liam's hand in his. "I know your musical world view has just been turned on its head, but this project is huge and we only have about six weeks to get this all perfect. It's also worth mentioning that your friends are going to love this song." He placed another quick kiss on Liam's lips and took off dragging Liam by the hand. 

That was the third time since they got up. Theo kissed him. All the stuff going on and Theo hadn't even mentioned that they had sex, and agreed they wanted to have sex again. They needed to talk about it. How did you even start that conversation? Hey, I have a huge crush on you and like your dick. Want to be my boyfriend? His face turned red just thinking about it.

Theo paused outside the door, peeked in the small window, then slipped inside. He still held Liam's hand, still pulled him along behind him. 

A-Chimera continued their song. Liam was surprised to see Josh sitting next to Tracey. He hadn't known Josh was still in the group. 

They sat on a row of stools, singing in perfect harmony. Their hands moved, keeping the beat with an intricate and highly coordinated series of claps, snaps and lap or chest taps, sometimes on the lap of their neighbors. There were a few missteps. Once Corey snapped as Hayden went for a high five and another Tracey and Josh went for each other's laps at the same time.

Theo and Liam gave them an enthusiastic and well deserved round of applause. Josh gave a nervous smile. Corey took a bow. Mason grinned. Tracy preened. "What the fuck you guys doing here?" Hayden demanded. She looked mad. 

Theo gave her a charming smile. "Did you guys hear Scott decided we were each cheesing our Senior Concert projects?" 

They all looked shocked. Mason staggered back like he'd been hit. "What?"

"Yeah, I wasn't contributing enough, creatively, and Liam tried to work solo, so Scott made us a group of two and told us to start a new project. We have the perfect song, but I'm telling Liam we need to play it on electric, so can we borrow your violin, Trace?"

"Liam, Mr. Classical, wants to play my Hello Kitty?" Tracy asked, smirking.

"Just to try it out," Liam insisted. "I'm not convinced electric would sound better than acoustic."

"You named your violin Hello Kitty?" Theo asked. 

Tracy smiled. "I was going to call her My Vagina, but thought teachers would have an issue."

"So you guys are just going to commandeer our practice?" Mason asked.

"I'm okay with that, if I get to hear Liam play an electric violin," Corey smiled.

"We need the practice," Hayden insisted. The others looked at her. "But yeah, I want to see Liam play Tracy's Kitty."

They stood side by side so they could see the notebook, as they played acoustic first. They were a little disjointed and twice one of them missed when changeover between answer and call. 

"That wouldn't happen if your wiring didn't look like it was done by a hyperactive chicken," Theo complained.

"Shut up and play," Liam said during Theo's part when he could lift his chin. 

Corey scrunched his nose. "I'm already betting on the electric version.

Tracy handed Liam her metallic hot pink electric violin. "Be nice to my Hello Kitty," she said with a wicked grin.

He didn't let himself grimace. The idea of electric violin never sat right with him. They played it again. As soon as Theo hit his first note he knew Theo was right. They had to play it electric. How many more of his songs would come to life like this on electric?

"That's a damn good song, Theo," Josh said, "and yeah it needs to be electric."

"Thanks, but Liam wrote this, not me." Theo smiled at him.

"Really?" Tracy sounded shocked.

"No need to sound so shocked." Liam carefully handed Hello Kitty back to Tracy. He noticed a small Hello Kitty sticker in the middle of the scroll. "Thanks for the loan. I'll order one for myself tonight."

"He didn't mean anything, Liam," Mason assured. "It's just more range than we expected."

"And you guys need dancers," Corey added.

Liam's eyes widened. Dancers? This was getting crazy. He wanted his music to be what people noticed not the spectacle.

"Yes!" Tracy yelled. "Hayden and I need a dance piece, too. We can't do it here with Josh and Mason just standing there."

"How can you beatbox, but not dance?" Liam asked.

"They're completely different skills," Mason grumbled like he was tired of saying it.

"Rhythm definitely isn't his problem." Corey winked.

\---

They made their way back to their room, letting A-Chimera finish their regular practice, and went back to their room. Liam closed the door.

"How come you don't write?" The idea that a musician didn't write just didn't make sense to him.

Theo shrugged. "There's nothing I want to say that hasn't already been said by musicians that said it better than I could on my own. I just learn to play those songs. If someone else writes a song I can figure out the guitar part, to fit, but writing from nothing just doesn't work well for me."

"I get tunes in my head and it feels like I have to get them out," Liam put Christine back on her stand. His head hurt. Nothing was wrong, but everything was different, and he didn't know how much more he could take in one day. He just wanted to go to bed. 

"Your song is amazing." Theo said from right behind him, his hot breath tickled the back of Liam's neck.

His mouth went dry. He turned and wrapped his arms around Theo's neck. "Thanks." He wanted to ask what they were. He needed a definite answer, but he also couldn't handle another serious conversation, so he pressed their lips together. Theo's hands ran over his ass, and they fell back on the bed.


	6. Chapter 6

Roundtable Rival, Theo loved the title of their song. He loved their song, their performance, everything about it. He was sure Liam felt the same, or he had until this rehearsal. Last time it was decided that they needed one more dancer. Sheriff Liam had Hayden and Tracy as deputies, but Robber Theo had only had Corey. Balance ment they needed another henchman. Today Corey showed up with Brett.

When Liam crossed his arms and refused to play Theo pulled him aside. "I know you guys had a terrible break-up. I know he hurt you, but we need another dancer and Corey said he was the only one to volunteer this close to show time."

Liam shook his head, eyes bright with anger. "I don't want him here."

"What if we choreograph you kicking his ass?" Theo asked.

Liam quirked a small smile, but refused to make eye contact. 

Theo lifted his chin with a gentle hand. "You could This Is Sparta him right into the stage."

Liam laughed and wiped his eyes. "I'll be professional, but yes, we should choreograph that in.

\---

In the evenings after dinner Liam had started asking Theo to turn on music they could enjoy together. He always included some classical or opera songs, but most of it was genres Liam hadn't listened to for years: pop, rock, classic rock, blues. It was a little weird going from Mozart to Pink Floyd or Panic! At the Disco, but it was still fun.

He sat down for lunch with his friends. One of the catchier songs from the night before played through his head. He hummed it, wondering how it would sound on his violin, either on Christine or his new shiny black electric one, Lindsey.

"Is that Boulevard Of Broken Dreams you're humming?" Mason asked. He pointed an accusing french fry at his best friend.

Liam picked up his fork. "Uh, yeah…"

Hayden narrowed her eyes. "Since when do you listen to Green Day?"

Liam shrugged. "Theo has been helping me to broaden my horizons."

Everyone else at the tables shared a look. The girls giggled. Corey bit his lip, holding back laughter. Mason waggled his french fry. "Is that what you're calling it?"

"I usually just call it getting the D." Tracy made an obscene gesture with her banana.

Chocolate milk burned through Liam's nose. He coughed and tried to wipe his face and sop up the mess, happy he missed his plate. "Jeez, Tracy! We're… I mean.. uh." 

He didn't know how to define it. They slept together, and not just for sex. They shared a bed every night since the Monday after Thanksgiving. They kissed often, sometimes just to say good morning, but they never talked about what they wanted or expected from each other. 

"Ten points to Tracy for the timing," Corey said, then focused on Liam. "I have weights with Theo, and when he works out shirtless, it's a very nice view by the way, but also I can't help but notice scratches on his back. Scratches very similar to the ones your ex-boyfriend had last year."

Liam felt his face burn. "I'm not denying that part. We just haven't really talked about it, but WORKING ON THE SENIOR CONCERT with him has expanded my taste in music. That's all I meant."

\---

"I didn't know Bhudists celebrate Christmas," Theo admitted.

Brett laughed and gave a small shrug. "Some do, including Satomi, so that means I do, too." 

Theo's phone chimed the seldom heard tone of an incoming call. He did a small double take at the caller ID. "I need to answer this," he said and slipped into his room. "Hi, Grandma, what's going on? Is everything okay with Mom?"

"Hi, Theo. Yeah, your mom's good. Everything is fine." There was a slight tremor in her voice. She sounded nervous. "I called to apologise."

Theo tried to remember anytime in his entire life he could think of his grandma saying those words and came up with nothing. "It's okay."

"No, it isn't. I still have a lot of anger about Yaya. I took that out on you. That isn't okay at all." 

Theo closed his eyes. Grandma and Yaya weren't just his grandparents, they had been a steady presence in his life as far back as he could remember. When his mom got sick, and Dad was working he and Tara spent nights or entire weekends at their house. 

Last year Yaya rocked the family by leaving. She said she wasn't happy, left and cut off all contact with everyone. Technically it wasn't a divorce, they were never legally married, even if they were together for over thirty five years.

"Grandma, I didn't come to this school to run away. You know what music means to me, and from here I have a real chance at a college scholarship or job opportunities. This is my best chance to make a career out of it."

"I know, sweetie. Why don't you tell me about it? Give me enough information to help Tara talk your dad around."

Theo did. He told her about the classes, his teachers, how much he was learning and how much his music had improved. She listened and asked questions at all the right times. "What about outside class? Are you happy, making friends?" Theo could hear the concern in her voice.

"I've made more friends here in three months than I ever had at my old school. I even have a boyfriend that isn't a closet case." He told her about Liam, and their concert piece, and made sure to extend an invitation to the show. "I hope you can come. I want you to meet my boyfriend."

Liam walked in glaring at Theo. He slammed the door behind him. 

"I have to go Grandma. Love you, too." He ended the call and turned a quizzical eyebrow at Liam.

"Boyfriend?" Liam demanded. "Since when do you have a boyfriend? How long were you going to string me along?"

Theo stared at him, trying to decide if he was serious. Liam stepped up into Theo's face. "I won't be some side piece."

Theo rolled his eyes. "I was talking about you, dumbass."

"We've never talked about being boyfriends, idiot!" Liam clenched his jaw.

Theo felt his own anger rising. "We act like boyfriends. It's kind of obvious we feel that way, isn't it?"

Liam made a frustrated, growling noise. "Not if we haven't talked about it. If we don't set clear expectations how do we know we're exclusive and not fucking half the school?"

"I'm not Brett, dumbass. I don't cheat. I also don't bottom for hookups," Theo nearly yelled in Liam's face.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know that if you never fucking say it?" Despite the anger in his words Liam's hands went to Theo's waist, sliding under his shirt.

Theo's breath hitched at the contact. Liam was so hot when he was angry. He pulled his shirt off, and got to work opening Liam's belt, but his tone didn't soften. "You're right. I should have said something, but you could've said something, too."

Once their clothes were gone Liam smashed their lips together in a rough, hard kiss, then pushed Theo back into his bed. "What the fuck was I supposed to say? I've been crushing on you since I saw you? I like your cock and don't like to share?"

Theo handed him a condom and the lube from the drawer by the bed. "Yes! If we are going to work as a couple, we have to talk to each other, you fucking dumbass."

Theo hummed at the contact as Liam rolled the condom over his shaft, and slowly eased himself on top. When they were comfortably sheathed together Liam took Theo's wrists and pinned them to his chest. "Fine," he said. His voice was still thick with anger, but also breathy with need. He rode hard and fast. "I'll talk more to my idiot boyfriend."

Theo thrusted matching his rhythm to Liam's. "Good, me too." Liam didn't let up. He held tighter to Theo's wrists, slammed harder into Theo's thrusts. He cussed and moaned as his pleasure built. Theo watched sweat bead up on Liam's flushed skin and had to close his eyes to keep from finishing too soon.

Liam let go of his wrists, and took himself in his hand. Theo grabbed his boyfriend with his finally free hands, one on the back of his head pulling him into a kiss, the other on his lower back holding them together.

They moaned into the kiss, as they came together. Liam rolled to the side, his body still shaking. "Just so we're clear. We're boyfriends and we're exclusive."

Theo shivered as he removed the condom and cleaned up with one of Liam's dirty pajama shirts from the floor. "Yeah, we are," he said, then laid back down and pulled Liam to his chest.

\---

Liam sighed and tossed his phone on his bed. He crawled into Theo's bed and put his head in his lap. Fingers ran through his hair. "You're making it hard for me to read this book for English," Theo said without putting his book down.

"I could make it really hard," Liam offered, but his voice was flat.

"What's wrong?"

Liam rubbed his face on Theo's thigh. "I'm not looking forward to going home this weekend."

Theo set his book aside. "I thought you got along with your parents."

"I do." Liam didn't explain further. "What's Christmas like with your family?"

Theo tensed. "Our Christmas varies a lot depending on what's been going on. This year, with me here and Mom in the hospital I doubt Dad even set up a tree. He probably just has some gift bags with presents for everyone. On Christmas Eve they'll pile in Grandma's van and drive around and look at Christmas lights, then they'll exchange gifts. On Christmas Day Dad and Grandma will visit Mom, Tara and her family will be with the in-laws."

Liam rolled to look up at his boyfriend's face. "Why are you left out of all that?"

Theo licked his lips. "Dad and I aren't exactly on speaking terms."

"You're staying here?" Liam bit his lip. Theo nodded. "Come home with me," he begged. 

"I'm not looking for a pity invitation, Liam. I wasn't planning on saying anything."

"You're an idiot. Have you ever wondered why I live in the dorm when the house I grew up in is ten minutes away? It's always empty. My parents are great when they're around, but they work all the time. Even when I'm at the house I almost never see them. On Thanksgiving my mom got snowed in, and dad had to do emergency surgery. I spent almost the entire weekend alone." Tears rolled down his cheeks. "I don't want to spend Christmas that way, too."

Theo brushed his thumb over Liam's cheek. "Alright, I'll come. Are you sure your parents are going to be okay with it?"

Liam rolled out of bed and retrieved his phone. He sat back in Theo's lap and tapped at the screen. "Let's ask my mom." 

Before Theo could protest the video call was answered by a blond woman in her fifties. "Hi, sweetie!"

She and Liam smiled the same smile at each other. "Hi, Mom this is Theo, my boyfriend." Theo smiled and tried not to blush.

"It's nice to meet you." She thought for a moment then asked, "Theo is your boyfriend and your roommate? Weren't you saying how the school shouldn't allow that kind of thing?" 

"Uuhh, that was when I was painfully single and my best friend ditched me to live with his boyfriend. Anyway Theo can't go home for Christmas, so you mind if he stays with us?"

"Of course not! I would hate to think of you staying alone in that big empty school, Theo. I'll have Danny pick you both up Friday so you don't need to squish four young men and all your stuff into Mason's car." the boys could see her making notes while she talked. "Sorry, I have a meeting. Love you, Liam." She blew a kiss and ended the call.

"Fuck. Warn a guy before you introduce him to your mom." Theo shoved Liam out of his lap.

Liam winced as he hit the floor. "Sorry, I'll make it up to you."

"How?"

Liam smiled. "I have a king size bed"

\---

Theo paced back and forth. "Does your family do church on Christmas?" Theo asked. He didn't have a suit. He had a button down, but no slacks, only jeans. Did he pack his button down? He couldn't be sure he even brought it to school.

Liam looked up from his phone. "Nope. The only place we go for Christmas is Mom's firm's ugly sweater party."

"Ugly sweater party?" Theo didn't even own a sweater, unless they counted hoodies, but he didn't think they did.

"Yeah, a bunch of lawyers and their families in holiday sweaters pretending to like each other in the ballroom of the Four Seasons. Open bar for the adults, sparkling cider for us, mostly overplayed Christmas carols but Tierney and I usually play a couple of songs." 

"I don't have a Christmas sweater, and who is Tierney?" he asked.

Liam put his phone in his pocket and focused on his boyfriend. "Mom will get us all new sweaters, or more likely have Danny pick out some. He usually gets them for the rest of us. Tierney is the daughter of another senior partner at Mom's firm. She plays piano." He smiled. "Do you know any Christmas songs? You could play with us."

"I know a couple." Theo felt his heart slam against his ribs. This was such a bad idea. Playing for rich lawyers couldn't lead anywhere good. He would play the wrong music, and in general stand out.

An SUV pulled in front of them and Liam's face lit up. It was a Mercades. The guy Liam's family paid to run their errands was rich enough to drive a Mercades. A tall man in his thirties with brown skin and close cut hair got out and smiled at them. "I didn't expect you guys to be waiting outside." Liam ran up and hugged him, hard. "Okay, Okay. I missed you too, but if we're going to beat traffic we have to go."

Liam gave him a million watt smile. "That's why we were waiting outside, but first." He pulled Danny by the hand, and bounced like an excited puppy around the vehicle to stand in front of Theo. "Danny, this is my boyfriend."

They shook hands, and Danny eyed him critically. "Nice to meet you, Theo." He looked at Liam and said, "He's hotter than the last guy. Does he know how to keep it in his pants?"

Blood drained from Liam's face, and his mouth fell open. Theo recovered faster. "Yes, I do. I've been cheated on before. I wouldn't do that to someone I care about."

"Good answer." Danny nodded and opened the hatch back on the SUV. "There are some presents and this year's round of sweaters back here so some of it might have to go in the back seat."

\---

"This looks like the Full House house." Theo looked over the three story house they parked in front of. At least it wasn't a mansion. It looked like a normal house, just big and expensive in a rich neighborhood. 

"That's the next street over," Liam said. 

"Seriously?" Theo froze.

"The old owners used to do tours." Liam was looking at him. Worry lines creased his forehead. 

Danny smiled at both young men. "Culture shock. Don't worry, Theo, it won't take you long to get used to it, and Jenna and David are very nonjudgmental."

Theo nodded and smiled with confidence he didn't feel. "I'm not worried about your parents. Parents always love me."

"Good, but if we don't unload this car so I can get to the airport my husband will be mad at all of us." Danny opened the hatch and took the presents and shopping bags. He left the boys to grab their own stuff.

A smoky delicious smell hit them as soon as they got in. It made Theo's mouth water. "You made kalua pork," Liam said, his eyes wide.

"It won't be ready for a couple of hours, but by that time I should be well over the pacific. All you have to do is make the rice." Danny put the last present under the tree. It was almost four feet long. Theo shook his head. The last time he saw a present that big under a Christmas tree he was eight. It was the year he and Tara got bikes.

"Travel safe and give Koa and Makana a hug for me." Liam pulled Danny in a big hug.

"Will do, and mele Kalikimaka."

"Mele Kalikimaka," Liam said back.

"It was good to meet you, Theo. You boys play safe, I left a fresh box of condoms in your drawer in the upstairs bathroom." He was gone before either gathered their wits enough to reply.

"Is he always like that?" Theo pointed at the door.

"Yeah." Liam nodded. "Come on, I'll show you where everything is." 

They walked from the huge living room to the gigantic kitchen, and Liam pointed out the downstairs bathroom. Theo was sure his bedroom at his dad's house would fit in there. His comparison to the Full House house seemed even more appropriate. 

They took their stuff upstairs. Liam pointed out the upstairs bathroom, then opened his bedroom door. Theo set his stuff down to the side and looked around. It looked much like he would have guessed. Framed posters for Peter and the Wolf and Phantom of the Opera hung on the light blue walls. Liam hadn't exaggerated the size of his bed.

\---

Liam smiled watching Theo look around his room. "You, um, always leave That sitting right there?" Theo asked with amusement.

Liam followed Theo's eyes. On his nightstand in open view for anyone who walked into see was his smooth matt black four inch long butt plug. His face burned. He must have forgotten to put it away when he went back to school. 

He looked around the room. There was no dust anywhere. He whimpered a little. "The maid dusted my butt plug." 

Theo laughed. Liam glared at him. "Don't glare at me. You're the one that can't put your toys away." Theo inhaled sharply and bit his lip. "Do you know how sexy you are when you blush?"

That only made Liam blush more, but there was also a twitch between his legs and his pants felt tighter. "You're an asshole," Liam grumbled.

"Tell me how you use it." The words were a whisper of breath on Liam's neck.

Liam's mouth went dry. "I only use it when I'm completely naked." 

Theo made short work of their clothes. They lay on the bed. Theo put himself between Liam and the nightstand where the toy sat. "I put a little lube on the end of the plug and push it in, slow, kind of teasing myself."

Theo did as Liam said, easing it in slowly, watching him. His face showed how much he delighted in the small sounds he drew from his boyfriend. The close attention only made Liam blush harder. "What next?" Theo asked, his voice husky. 

"Turn it on." When Theo didn't move Liam felt the blush creep down his chest. He was painfully hard. "There's an app on my phone."

"I had no idea you were such a freak," Theo praised. Under the discreet title of "remote" Liam showed Theo the controls and his preferred settings. "Three out of ten?"

"The vibration is strong, and I like to go slow." Theo kissed him, and took the phone from his hand. The vibration started. "Fuuuuck," Liam groaned. 

His hand moved towards his shaft. Theo stopped him with an, "I'll do that," but instead of taking Liam in his hand or mouth he rolled on a condom. "Slow and teasing, right?" 

Liam nodded, eyes locked on Theo. He straddled Liam's waist and slid back so Liam's cock pressed, rubbed against his ass. He rocked, lifted himself, and teased at entering until Liam made a desperate, wanting noise. He took a little of Liam's length, only to pull off. 

"Theo," he said with shaky breath. 

"What? You said slow and teasing?" Theo smirked. 

Liam bucked his hips to push Theo off. "On your knees," he ordered. 

Theo got on all fours and smiled with feigned innocence. Liam forced himself to go slow, still, afraid to cause pain, but as soon as he entered Theo turned up the vibration. Liam's hips snapped forward, sealing them together. "Fuck yeah. Just like that," Theo begged.

Liam pounded into him. The vibration made his whole body tingle. He cussed and moaned into Theo's ear. Theo screamed his pleasures into the bed. They came together, shaking and cursing. Theo barely remembered to turn off the vibration before sleep took him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished writing, so updates will be closer together for the last two

Theo shifted in his seat. His knees pressed into the back of the driver's seat. Liam gave him an apologetic look from the front seat, but he waved it away. Liam had offered to sit in back, but Theo's guitars had to ride back here, so that's where he sat. 

"That's a lot of instruments," the Uber driver said and giggled. 

"Not really," Theo muttered.

"Do you boys ever get too stressed before a performance? I have these wearable essential oil diffusers. A little peppermint oil will knock that stress right out. I make them myself out of recycled bottle ca-." 

"Why are we going to Tierney's place instead of her coming to your house?" Theo asked loudly while their driver was still talking.

"She gets bitchy if she has to play on anything but a real piano." Liam shifted his violins in his lap. 

"Sounds like her aura is out of tune with her soul. I have a pyramid crystal array that can fix that."

"Musicians are just picky about their instruments," Liam said through gritted teeth. "Oh look, that's her building. Just pull up front." He jumped out of the car, leaned the seat forward and waved over the doorman to help them unload. Theo slammed the door as she started talking about her Etsy page. 

"I hope you're giving her a one star review." Theo stretched his back with an audible pop.

"There's no way that car is made to hold four people, unless two of them are under ten. She should be happy I don't believe in withholding tips for bad service." Liam nodded.

\---

Not only did the building have a doorman, but they had a full security staff in their lobby, the lobby with marble floors. The elevator had a couch. Theo felt even more uncomfortable than he had squeezed into that tiny backseat. 

Tierney lived on the twenty second floor, the top floor. This was everything he'd been afraid of when Liam invited him. People who lived in penthouse apartments on skyscrapers or in multi-million dollar homes didn't usually get along with kids that qualified for free lunch in public school.

Liam leaned against his shoulder. "I would hold your hand but all of ours are full." Theo gave him that practiced confident smile. Liam pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Don't be nervous. Tierney is cool and her parents probably won't be home, either."

"Is that the life of rich teenagers, always being home alone?"

Liam shrugged. "Bored teens with money to burn and no supervision, why else would so many of us end up in rehab?" They laughed, but Theo was sure Liam was only half joking.

A bored looking blond girl answered the door. She didn't say anything, just waved then in. What struck Theo the most was how much she and Liam looked alike. They had the same eyes, same face shape, mouths, even her jaw was a softer, more feminine version of Liam's. They looked even more alike than he and Tara did.

Tierney led them through the most obviously expensive apartment Theo had ever seen. The furniture looked new, modern and uncomfortable. They had real paintings on the walls, and while Theo couldn't name the artists of the individual works, they looked like the works of old masters. 

The music room, and it had to be a room dedicated to only music, because the only things in it were instruments and music equipment. A full sized grand piano sat in the middle of the room. Theo froze at the window. The floor to ceiling windows overlooked the city. Not just the city, their apartment had a view of the fucking Goldengate Bridge.

"Hot boyfriend plays guitar, and you have a new violin," she said, and her voice like her jaw was a softer version of Liam's. Theo reminded himself not to ask. 

"Yeah, I've been expanding my play style." Liam opened his travel case and pulled out Lindsey. 

She eyed the violin. "Is boyfriend as good as we are?" 

Theo shoved down annoyance. "My name is Theo, and yes. I'm as good with my guitar as Liam is with his violin."

Liam shook his head. "No. You're better." He didn't say it like he was bragging, or upset, just saying a fact. The sky is blue. What goes up, comes down. Theo is a better musician than Liam.

Tierney laughed. "Awesome, so with your sexy new electric violin and hot boyfriend, Theo, how about we go full Trans-Syberian on this shit and shock the entire firm?"

Theo and Liam shared a grin. "Hell yeah."

\----

Liam bounced with excitement. Tonight was the Christmas party, and the real start to the holiday. The previous five days with Theo alone at the house had been amazing, but this was his big chance to spend time with Theo AND his parents, having them all together sounded like the best thing he could imagine.

Theo paced from one side of the room to the other, his hand kept brushing back the hair that fell around his face. "Why are you nervous?" Liam asked.

Theo rolled his eyes. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe the face that I'm about to really meet your parents."

Liam crossed his arms. "What happened to 'parents always love me' besides you already met them."

"A thirty second surprise video call with you in my lap and a three in the morning run in by the fridge when I'm in my underwear, hardly count as meeting them."

Liam grinned. "Technically, I think you were in my underwear, and Dad didn't care. It was three in the morning. Pajamas are always appropriate at three in the morning."

"Except I was in your boxers, not my pajamas," Theo said through gritted teeth.

"You're the one that decided to go downstairs in my boxers, but at least you added a hoodie." Liam put his hands on Theo's hips and kissed him on the nose. "It's a good look for you, though." 

Theo frowned. 

"Come on. I'll make pancakes." Liam smiled, and took Theo's hand.

They took two steps before Theo's phone rang. He bit his lip as he looked at the screen. "I'll be right down. I want to take this first."

"Alright." Liam kissed Theo's cheek and went down stairs. 

The kitchen already smelled of coffee. Liam saw his mom. She still wore her pajamas, a t-shirt that really belonged to his step-dad and hung just above her knees. She poured coffee into two mugs. His step dad, also in his pajamas, a similar t-shirt and flannel pants, poured flavored creamer in their mugs. They stood side by side, not quite touching, but smiling at each other.

"Ugh! Isn't there a law against old people being cute with each other this early in the morning?" He didn't try to hide his smile. 

"You're just jealous because your boyfriend isn't in here to act all cute with you." David made a face at his step-son.

"He's on the phone. I told him I was going to make pancakes."

"Oo, I'll get the bananas and blueberries," Jenna said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"And I'll make the bacon," David offered.

\---

Theo stared at his phone screen, the picture of the smiling man in his early thirties with the green and red phone icons under his chin, the text reading incoming call and the single three letter name under it. He took a deep breath, and answered. "Hey, Dad." He was ready to pull the phone away from his ear and hang up if he needed to.

The voice from the other end was quiet. "Hi, Theo. It's good to hear your voice."

Theo bit his tongue to keep from pointing out that he would have heard it a lot sooner If he had answered the phone when Theo called last month. "Yeah, yours too."

"I should have called sooner. You shouldn't have to spend Christmas alone at school." Regret laced the words. Theo could almost hear the apology he knew wouldn't come.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus on what was being said. "I'm not. Alone, or at school, right now anyway. I'm spending Christmas with my boyfriend."

His dad seized the topic."Oh? Is he a good guy? What's his name?"

Theo smiled and let it be heard in his voice. "Liam, and yeah, he's great." He almost added that Liam was his roommate, but though that might be too close to the fight. He didn't want to fight with his dad.

"Good. Liam, I'll try to remember that. I'd like to meet him sometime."

Theo felt tears well up, grateful for the effort. He decided to take a chance, make a peace offering. Maybe his dad would surprise him. "We're doing a song together, for this huge senior concert on the 19th. It's open admission. You should come. You won't have to pay, I'll put you on the list."

His dad hesitated. "Uh, I don't know. I'll probably have to work."

Theo clenched his fist. No way was he going to let him off that easy. "It's a Saturday."

"Oh," Dad said, surprised, "um, okay, maybe. I'll try."

Silence stretched between them. Theo had expected another excuse. A maybe wasn't a certainty. It was probably just a stall tactic, but it was better than the full on refusal Theo thought was coming. 

They spoke at the same time. Dad said, "I should let you go." While Theo said, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Theo. Bye."

"Bye, Dad."

He took a moment to wash his face and collect himself before going downstairs. He could hear Liam and his parents laughing and talking before he walked in the room.

"Good morning, Theo!" Liam's mom hugged him. He was surprised by how tiny she was. Theo wasn't tall, but the top of her head hardly even met his chin. "What do you want in your pancakes? We have blueberries, bananas and mini chocolate chips."

"Uh, chocolate chips and bananas."

Liam and David groaned, but her face lit up. "A man after my own heart!" She glared at her husband and son with no malice. "See, I told you it was a good combination."

Liam blew a raspberry at his mom and boyfriend. "Blueberries! Only way to have pancakes!"

"The kid's right," David agreed and took a sip from his mug.

Jenna led Theo to the counter and in minutes he had his own mug of coffee and was laughing and joking with the rest. 

\---

Danny outdid every other year's sweaters, at least Liam thought so. Every sweater not only fit each person physically but the pattern fit their personalities. Dad got brain eating zombies wearing Santa hats, mom had cat faces in Christmas ornaments, he got Santa riding a stegosaurus and Theo got rockstar Joe Cool, all of them in eye searing colors.

The ballroom at the Four Seasons was tastefully decorated in silver, gold and hints of green and red. There was a large Christmas tree in the middle of the room. A small group of classical musicians set up in one corner. A few people danced, but most just mingled. 

Theo smiled and walked with confidence bordering on arrogance. Liam took hold of his hand, and gave it a squeeze. "Don't be nervous. The only people here that matter at all already love you," he whispered in his ear.

Theo stopped and turned to face Liam. "Did you just tell me you love me?"

Liam thought for a second. He kind of had, even if he hadn't meant to. The thought didn't scare him, and he realized that it was how he felt. "Yeah, I guess I did, and I'm not taking it back."

Theo laughed. "You're an asshole, but I guess I love you, too."

After about an hour of boring adult chatter and non-alcoholic eggnog Tierney found them. Her sweater was black and had Santa riding a rainbow unicorn through space. "You guys ready to give those guys a break?"

"Hell yeah, this place could use some excitement." Theo grinned.

Liam waved at his mom for her to start her speech and introduce them. Her speech was always pretty short and to the point: thanks for coming, enjoy your week off, and now enjoy my son and Jacob's daughter playing some music for you while the professionals take a break.

There was a round of polite clapping then the teens started their first song. It was a medley from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker titled A Mad Russian's Christmas. It combined all the fastest parts of the songs, and was put together with guitar in mind. 

They sounded amazing and just liked they hoped everyone was stunned into silence. When the song ended they went right into O' Come All Ye Faithful, and Theo killed it. Their third and final song was the classic by Trans-Syberian Orchestra, Wizards In Winter. As the last note began to fade the party goers exploded into applause. 

The three teens congratulated each other as the boys put their instruments back into their cases. A man in a plain cream colored sweater approached them. "Brace for impact," Liam warned as quietly as he could. 

The man looked over the teens with icy blue eyes. "Well, you finally played something worth listening to." He turned on his heel and walked away. 

Tierney slammed shut the cover over the piano keys and ran. Tears ran down her face.

\---

Liam bounced with excitement. Theo could see he was dying to say something, and had been all the way home, but he stayed quiet. As soon as his bedroom door closed Liam laughed. "Oh my god. The way you ruined that asshole's sweater was one of the best things I've ever seen." 

Theo grinned. "I have no idea what you're talking about. He bumped into me. It wasn't MY fault my cranberry juice spilled all over the front of his cashmere sweater. How does a plain sweater count for an ugly sweater party, anyway?"

"It made Tierney laugh." Liam's smile fell. His face turned somber. "I thought when you didn't follow me going after her, that you were just going to bail. Not that I would have blamed you. You hardly know her."

"It wasn't that." Theo paused, considering his words. "Sometimes, when Mom is off her meds she says some really awful stuff like that to me and Tara. We always need a minute alone after. I figured you and Tierney would, too."

Liam pulled off his sweater, and busied himself with untying his shoes. "You figured it out?"

"Kind of hard not to notice how much you three look alike. He's like an older, taller you, if you didn't have a soul." Theo pulled off his own sweater.

"The official story is I'm the product of artificial insemination. If someone asks about the resemblance he laughs and makes a joke about donating for beer money in college." Liam didn't make eye contact. He stared forward, not focusing on anything.

Theo shook his head. "Do people really believe that?"

Liam shrugged. "He and mom are good at laughing away any implication they ever had a thing, and their contract on the matter is airtight. Mom can never tell anyone, not even me, about it or she's in deep trouble. I read it. I think mom left it someplace I could find knowing I was old enough to understand what it meant."

Liam slipped out of his slacks with mechanical movements. "She got me, he gets to keep his marriage, and I get a seven figure trust fund." His jaw clenched, and he threw the pants into the hamper hard enough to knock it over. "You know what? Fuck him. I have a dad a million times better than he could ever be. I don't need some condescending dickhead that would rather pay a couple million dollars just to avoid acknowledging me as his son."

Theo didn't say anything he just pulled Liam into a strong hug. He held his boyfriend tight to his chest and felt the wetness of tears on their skin. 

After a minute Liam pulled away. He sniffled and wiped his face with his hands. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be freaking out like this when you aren't even talking to your dad."

Theo wiped away a bit of wetness Liam missed on his face. "That's okay. We actually talked this morning."

"You guys are okay, now?" 

Theo smiled at the hope in Liam's voice, but shook his head. "Not yet, and I'm not sure we will ever be as close as we were, but it's a step in the right direction."

"What did you guys even fight about?"

Theo sighed. After they became an official couple Theo had talked more about his family, his lesbian grandmas, his schitzophrenic mom, and his sister, but he always avoided his dad. 

"Dad doesn't understand music. He never has, and he doesn't see how I'm going to be able to support myself as a musician. I guess he was going for a tough love thing when he told me I had to pick between him and going to school. I know he didn't expect me to call his bluff."

"I'm confused. Your dad is fine with your sister getting pregnant, dropping out and getting married at sixteen, but you getting a full ride to a private school and he disowns you?"

Theo laughed. "He can't really be mad at Tara for doing what he and Mom did. He's only thirty four. He and Mom dropped out and got jobs at sixteen. He went construction and got certified. She got a job at a union grocery store. If mom hadn't gotten sick they would be securely middle class, not broke like they are."

"Wow," Liam said.

"Yep," Theo agreed, "but he did call me today and he sounded like he was trying."

\---

They stripped off their remaining clothes and laid in bed holding each other. They were quiet for a long time before Liam said, "I meant it, earlier, when I told you I love you. I didn't plan on saying it." He laughed. "If I had thought about it before I probably would have psyched myself out of it."

Theo lifted Liam's chin to meet his eyes. "I'm glad you said it. I wouldn't have said it this early, but I mean it. I do love you."

"I love you, too," Liam whispered.

Their lips met soft and gentle. There was none of the urgency they usually felt. Slowly, their hands slid over each other's skin. Theo kissed down Liam's neck. 

With a soft sigh Liam rolled on his back, and pulled Theo on top. His hands savored the feel of Theo's back, rubbing where he usually scratched. Theo's fingers worked magic on his body bringing sighs and moans, then finally a word, "please."

Theo pulled back just long enough to put on a condom and apply some lube. He lifted Liam's legs and propped a pillow under his hips. "Ready?" Theo asked in a breathy whisper. Liam nodded, his skin flushed and eyes bright.

Slowly, tenderly Theo entered him. He leaned forward, supporting his weight on his arms. Their lips found each other again. Their bodies rocked together. Liam's legs hugged Theo's waist, his hands held him close. When the pleasure grew too intense to maintain the kiss they pressed their foreheads together.

The friction, and the closeness with the desire and love in Theo's eyes pushed Liam over the edge. Theo's release started before Liam's finished. They stayed in that position, neither willing to move until the waves of pleasure subsided. Theo removed the condom, used his discarded underwear to wipe their stomachs clean, and pulled Liam to his chest. They slept.

\---

Everyone slept in on Christmas morning. It was almost nine before the smell of fresh muffins and hot chocolate made Liam open his eyes. He woke Theo by kissing his cheek. "Merry Christmas, sexy."

Theo smiled and pulled Liam on top of him. "Do I get to unwrap you again?" He kissed Liam's neck.

The stubble drew out a giggle and Liam blushed. "Maybe later. Right now we have my mom's homemade cinnamon cran-orange muffins and hot chocolate. There's also the family friendly gifts under the tree."

Theo pulled his face away from his boyfriend's neck. "Your mom makes muffins on Christmas?"

Liam nodded. "From scratch and they are amazing."

Theo shoved Liam off him and began searching the floor. "Where are my pants?" Liam playfully slapped his round bare ass.

Within minutes they were dressed, eating warm muffins at the kitchen table and sipping hot chocolate from the crockpot on the counter. They chatted and ate. Liam could see Theo relaxed more and more with every minute he spent around his parents. 

"Have you ever had muffins this good?" David asked as he reached for seconds.

"No," Theo admitted. "My family was never big on baking, except Grandma, but these are even better than her brownies."

"Beating out Grandma Brownies is serious business." Jenna smiled and took a sip of her hot chocolate. "We should probably get to the presents."

Liam handed out the presents. It was always his job, even as a small kid. He loved finding each name and making sure everyone had one before it was time to open. He especially loved the shocked look on Theo's face when he realized the biggest present under the tree, the large box Danny carried in when he dropped them off, had his name on it.

"Did you think we would make you spend Christmas without a gift?" Jenna asked. Her tone was light, but her face showed real concern.

"I guess I hadn't really thought about it," Theo admitted.

"We usually go one at a time. How about you go first, Theo?" David suggested. Jenna quickly agreed and Liam smiled, trying to calm his boyfriend's nerves. 

He ripped the paper and froze. His mouth fell open and he stumbled for words. "I.. wow…" Liam looked at the box in his lap. It read Gibson Les Paul Professional. Liam smiled and gave his mom a grateful look. It was a very high quality guitar. "This is too much," Theo said. 

"You want to be a professional musician, right?" Jenna asked. Theo nodded. "Then you will need a professional quality guitar, so you absolutely will accept it."

Theo nodded, carefully set the guitar aside, got up and hugged Jenna, then David. "Thank you." 

"Your turn, Liam." The mischievous smile she gave him only made him pause for a second. Gag gifts had never been her thing. 

In stark contrast to Theo's guitar, Liam's gift was the smallest under the tree. The small white box was only an inch deep and about the size of a deck of cards. He untied the bow, removed the lid and screamed. The contents of the box fit in his hand. 

He stood and looked at his parents. "Where?" But before they could answer he yelled, "Oh! The garage!" and ran. 

Theo caught up with him in the doorway where Liam stood looking between the key in his hand and the shiny blue hatchback.

"It's been there all week. Not even wrapped," David said from behind him.

"We knew you wouldn't go in there," Jenna assured. 

Liam hugged them both. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"


	8. Chapter 8

The rest of Christmas break flew by. It amazed Theo how comfortable he felt around Liam's parents. They were kind and accepting. It would be impossible not to love them. He sat in the passenger seat of Liam's car, another place that was surprisingly comfortable. 

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you to Beacon Hills? We could surprise your sister, or visit your mom in the hospital." Liam smiled and his whole face lit up. His eyes sparkled. 

It was almost enough for Theo to agree. "Nah. Tara works today, and visiting someone in a mental hospital isn't the kind of thing you spontaneously, and no, I don't want to go see my dad." They had exchanged a few texts since their phone call, and Theo even sent him a selfie of him and Liam, but the in person visit Liam had talked about all day yesterday was pushing it.

Liam sighed. "I wasn't very subtle, was I?"

"You were about as subtle as a CS Lewis allegory." Theo smirked. 

Liam rolled his eyes. "I still can't believe you hate Narnia."

"I don't hate Narnia. I love the idea of it. I just hate all the preaching and sexism you get with it, but I will admit the Tolkien/Jesus lion is pretty cool."

"So is the music," Liam said firmly.

"And the music," Theo agreed. "Will you drive us back to school now?"

Liam pouted, but nodded.

\---

Josh laughed and it sent Liam off cackling again. It took several minutes for the laughter to calm, then a few more for them to catch their breath. When Liam could talk again he said, "I've missed hanging out with you."

"Me too," Josh said. They watched their boyfriends and Corey practice their choreography for Roundtable Rival. "Is Theo supposed to be just standing there?"

Liam smiled. "He's never taken dance and isn't comfortable dancing on stage, but the good thing is he doesn't need to. He just needs to look badass and play guitar. He'll be robbing the bank during the big fight."

Theo stood between and slightly behind Corey and Brett. He had his guitar but wasn't really playing, instead he counted out the steps. The dancers fell forward into push up position. Brett kicked off from the ground and Corey rolled under him. They both went back to push up position before jumping back to their feet.

"That was hot," Josh said.

"Fuck." Liam bit his lip. He did not want to be reminded of Brett's hotness. He focused his eyes back on his boyfriend. "You know, Josh, when- if Brett cheats on you, you can always hang out with us again."

"Liam." Josh shook his head. His voice was cold. "I know you think you're being nice, but that was probably the douchiest thing you've ever said. Brett isn't going to cheat on me." He put up a hand to stop Liam from interrupting him. "I know what he did to you. It was fucking WRONG, but not because he slept with other people. It was wrong because he didn't talk about it and get consent first."

"I wouldn't have been okay with it," Liam said automatically.

"And that's fine, but you guys could have at least ended it knowing you wanted different things and still been on good terms, instead causing a giant shit storm and splitting up our friend group."

"So you guys are poly? Happy that way?" Liam asked. Josh nodded. "How does that work? Sorry, that was rude. I'm not judging, just curious."

Josh took a deep breath. "We didn't start out that way, but after that day of anxiety because of your middle of the night meltdown he and I talked. We decided that communication and trust were more important than monogamy."

"I can see that." Liam watched Theo give Corey a hand up from the ground. He didn't want to think about his boyfriend having non-platonic contact with anyone. "But I don't think I could go that far."

"That's okay. It's not for everyone, but it works for us, and since I know you want to ask, I'm just going to tell you. I've slept around more than he has."

"What? Really?"

Josh gave Liam a wicked smile. "Yeah. Turns out Brett really likes to watch."

Liam felt his cheeks turn warm, and knew he was blushing. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Josh cackled.

\---

Strings never felt like a real class to Theo. Not because they didn't learn anything, he had learned more in three months than his entire life up to this point, but because they didn't have desks. Some students used regular chairs, but others sat on couches or cushions on the floor. All seats were arranged in a vague half circle and Scott or whatever student was performing took the middle. 

Every week they had to do a short performance that was in some way a personal challenge. This week Theo played a section of Phantom of the Opera. His official reason was to expand his range, but the real goal was to make Liam smile. It worked.

"How did you know that's one of my favorites?" Liam smiled.

Theo took his seat on the couch next to his boyfriend. "You named your violin Christine." 

"I should learn to play Tomorrow."

Theo laughed. "I like Hard Knock Life better, or you could go with Time of Your life for Baby." He patted his new guitar.

"Liam, you're up," Scott said.

Liam stood in front of the class. He fidgeted a little. "I also picked this song, to expand my range. I didn't copy Theo. I didn't know what he planned. 

"It's fine, Liam. Go ahead." Scott gave an encouraging smile.

Liam nodded and started playing a haunting melody. Theo recognized it immediately and smiled.

When Liam finished Scott laughed. "If you guys told me in September that one week Theo would play Andrew Lloyd Webber and Liam would play Eddie Van Halen I would have thought you were crazy. That being said no one was ever turned down for a job for being too versatile."

"Being vers can actually get you a job if the boss is sleazy enough," Theo whispered. Liam snickered. "For the record, Respect The Wind is a way better choice than those other songs.

\---

Liam took a deep breath and looked at the page again. It always made sense when Isaac explained it, but as soon as he tried to do it on his own it went out the window. His paper was a mess of numbers, letters and symbols. "A" doesn't equal zero so it's not linear, but these equations are all lines they are supposed to graph. How was he supposed to graph a line that isn't a line?

"So, Josh told you we're poly," Brett whispered.

"Yeah," Liam said. He waited for the rage to pool in his stomach, the way it always did when Brett talked to him. It didn't come. 

"When Josh and I were talking about your guy's conversation I realized I never apologized to you for what I did, and how it ended."

"As I remember you were a little busy getting stabbed." Liam set down his pencil and smirked at his ex boyfriend.

Brett shook his head. "You didn't stab me. It was a scratch on the shoulder." 

"You dodged. I was aiming much, much lower." Liam smiled. Attacking Brett had been an act of rage. He expected to feel shame or pain at the memory. He always had when he thought about it before, but now it just seemed kind of funny.

"Good thing you have terrible aim." Brett smiled. "After Scott and Stiles took the scissors and dragged you away. Sean punched me in the face."

"I know. Sean, Garrett and I had a 'Brett Is A Bastard' party. We got drunk, complained about you, Sean mentioned the punch and Garrett told us how he kneed you in the balls. There was pizza." 

Brett blinked in surprise. "Are you kidding?"

Liam laughed. "Nope. If we had known about Sydney we would have invited her, too."

"Wow. Um, okay. I deserve all that." Brett shook his head. "My point was that I never told you I'm sorry. I don't think I would have meant it if I said it back then, but I do now. I'm sorry I hurt you, Liam."

The words felt honest, sincere. "I don't know if I can forgive you, but I accept your apology. Maybe, we can even try to fix our friend group. I promise not to stab you, again."

"It was only a scratch," Brett insisted. He offered his fist. "A truce sounds good." Liam tapped his knuckles against Brett's.

\---

"What are you writing?"

Liam's question startled Theo back to the present. "Huh? Oh, scholarship essays." He looked back over his screen. It was five hundred words about what made his family unique. He wondered if he should have gone with the mental illness aspect instead of the queer one. "Will you read this and tell me if it makes sense?"

Liam read over his shoulder. "You really never had to come out?"

"Nope. The only time anyone asked how I identify is when Yaya wanted to know what flag I wanted at Pride."

"It's good. Do you have any pictures of your family at Pride? It might help sway the judge."

Theo had to think for a minute before he pulled up a picture. It was a few years old. He and Tara were fourteen. His entire family was gathered together. They called it their Family Represent Selfie. His grandmas wore t-shirts striped like the lesbian flag. His dad and his siblings had their flags painted on their cheeks. Aunt Cheryl had the lesbian flag, Charlie had their genderqueer/pan flag and his dad with the demi flag. His mom stood next to his dad in a black ballcap with ACE spelled out in grey, white and purple letters. Tara and him squeezed in close to their parents, bi flags pinned to their shirts.

Liam smiled at the picture. "Definitely include it." He was quiet for a moment before he asked, "if your parents are ace and demi how do you exist?"

Theo laughed. "Some times ace people choose to have sex to procreate, but in this case it was bad, noninclusive sex ed, and cultural expectations that teenagers have sex. They always joke that they hit the jackpot by getting us the first time so they didn't need to try again."

"How many scholarships are you applying for?"

"As many as I qualify for, so far seven tonight. Most are only a couple hundred dollars, but they add up and I can use them at any accredited school I get accepted to."

"I've had my heart set on Julliard for years. My entire focus has been on getting in. I'm only now realizing what a big advantage that is."

"I don't want to go somewhere like Julliard. I'm too afraid I'll prove my dad right if I focus on just music." Liam started to protest, but Theo shook his head. "You know how I work with the kids in the weekend workshops the school puts on?"

Liam nodded and smiled. He knew volunteering had been a condition of Theo's scholarship, but he turned out to really enjoy it.

"I think I want to study education. As long as I can play my guitar everyday I'll be happy. It would be amazing if I could do that on stage in front of thousands of people, and that is still my main goal, but if that doesn't work I think I would love having a job like Scott's."

Liam licked his lip. "I think you would be good at that. I guess I just built this image in my head of us going to Julliard together. I should have talked to you about it."

"You should have," Theo agreed, then smiled. "but, there are some great schools in New York. I'm not sure where I want to go but I don't see any harm in applying to some schools close to where you are."


	9. Chapter 9

The stage was black. A simple beat started, tapped out by multiple hands hitting cloth. A spotlight came up on five people dressed in white sitting on stools in the middle of the stage. They kept their faces straight and sang in perfect harmony when the song reached a quiet part of mostly humming they did an intricate clap, snap, pat, tap routine. 

Theo and Liam watched from the side of the stage. "That is the most insane game of pat-a-cake ever." 

Liam giggled. "They're really good."

"They are," Theo agreed. "You know what else is really good. The way your ass looks in those tights." The lights were too dim to see if he blushed, but judging by his expression Theo thought he did.

"Don't even start," Liam warned. "These tights hide absolutely nothing, and I'm up next."

Theo was tempted to push it, but Liam having to dance in front of the packed concert hall with an obvious boner was too mean, so he backed off.

When A-Chimera finished the lights went out. A new group of musicians repositioned the stools and Liam and his partner, a small girl wearing tights and a dress in the same shade of green as Liam's, took the stage. 

The music was soft and fluttery. They danced and the beauty of it took Theo's breath. He was mesmerized. He knew Liam danced, had seen him dancing for their song, but not like this. 

"Fuck, he's amazing."

"Not amazing," Mason said, softly. "He is good, a solid seven, but you're seeing a ten because you're hopelessly in love with him." Theo grinned at his boyfriend's best friend. 

It wasn't long before Theo was on stage. Both his side projects were listed before his main. He was grateful for the lights shining in his face. This was the first time with an audience more than a couple hundred people, and they helped keep him from freaking out. They also stopped him from looking for his dad. He closed his eyes and focused on the song.

\---

The spotlight hit Liam in the middle of the stage. He wore a cowboy hat and boots, a crisp white shirt and a leather vest that was more buckles than leather and had an old style sheriff badge pinned over his heart. He pulled his bow from the holster at his hip and started to play.

Theo entered, dressed in black from his cowboy hat to his boots, his sleeveless shirt showed off his muscular arms. He had Baby slung over his back. Corey and Brett flanked him. Both wore suspenders and old west style button downs. Corey wore a pair of goggles on his tophat. 

Theo smirked at the audience and started to play right on cue. Brett and Corey danced as he played. All three stepped closer to Liam with the beat. 

They went back and forth. Liam held his ground as the other moved forward. As Theo's part reached the crescendo he took a knee and pointed his guitar like a weapon. Liam doged to the side. Deputies Hayden said Tracy, both dressed in short layered ruffled skirts, leggings and corsets took their places on either side of Sheriff Liam. Their dance sent Theo and his henchmen into a retreat, dodging blasts from Liam's violin.

Liam, Hayden and Tracy continued to dance while he played. Behind them Theo, Corey and Brett snuck into position. Theo's part took Liam by surprise, knocking him and the girls to their knees. While they were down Theo slipped back between the curtains. 

From one knee Liam continued to play, tension building. Brett and Corey laughed and taunted. All went quiet for a beat when Liam stood. He started playing again and the fight was on. 

The carefully choreographed battle had all five performers weaving around each other. The dancers threw punches, and kicks. Liam kicked, and danced and played without missing a note. 

Theo stepped back out of the curtain with two big white money bags as a couple of well placed kicks sent Corey and Brett sprawling on the stage. Liam sent a final blast at Theo, making him stagger and Hayden and Tracy took him into custody. 

Liam took center stage once more, played the celebratory end of the song, blew at the end of his bow like a smoking gun, and put it back in his holster. The stage went dark.

\---

Their performance was perfect. Theo and Liam quickly slipped out of backstage into the green room to change. As soon as they had room to move without bumping into other students and could set down their instruments Liam launched himself into Theo's arms. They kissed.

"That was the best show I have ever done, and I never would have considered any of it without you." Liam smiled and Theo felt it warm his soul. "Let's go change so we can see the rest of the concert."

Theo nodded and changed his clothes. He waited until Liam was bouncing out the door to take his phone from his guitar case. No messages. No calls. He made sure it was on silent, slipped it in his pocket and followed his boyfriend.

\---

The concert was over and Theo still hadn't heard from his grandma or his dad. He scanned the faces in the crowded lobby. Liam and his parents spoke with a woman in a suit Theo didn't know. A scout, he guessed. Mason and Corey were being mobbed by Mason's family. Brett hugged an elderly woman that could only be Satome. The tiny lady hardly reached Brett's chest.

Theo looked at his phone and sighed. He hadn't meant to get his hopes up. He turned to go. Liam's family would welcome him to their visit, probably even insist he join them, so he knew he wouldn't be alone, but he was hoping Tara and Grandma had fully gotten through to him.

"Theo!"

Theo froze. That was his grandma's voice. He turned and was enveloped in a warm, familiar hug. "In my completely unbiased opinion that was the best song ever written in the history of the world and you played it perfectly." His face broke into a smile. She held him out at arm's length to look him over. "You look good, kiddo." 

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Theo stammered. 

"I wouldn't let her, too afraid I'd chicken out at the last minute." Dad smiled nervously, and pulled Theo into a crushing hug. Theo hugged him back and closed his eyes. "I'm proud of you, son. The show was amazing, but I'm also proud of you for doing what was right for you, even when the rest of us didn't understand."

Theo didn't let go. They were the same height so he whispered into his dad's ear. "I just followed your example."

"I should have backed you up." His voice shook and Theo could feel wetness where their heads touched.

"Better late than never."

"I'm sorry it wasn't always. I'll do better."

They pulled away, and wiped their faces with their hands. Theo smiled. "Ready to meet my boyfriend?"

Before his dad could answer Theo was tackled. Liam jumped at him wrapping his arms around Theo's neck and shouting. Theo staggered but kept his feet. It took a moment to realize the shouting was words. "I'm in," Liam repeated over and over.

"In?" Theo asked.

Liam let go but still bounced up and down. "Juilliard! I'm in! I just talked to their representative. She said the audition was just a formality. That was the word she used. Formality! I'm in!"

"Congratulations!" Theo hugged him, then turned him to face his dad and grandma. "Liam, I want you to meet my dad, Jon and Grandma."

\--

Liam looked around the room. At their small pre-finals party. Music played from his laptop, an eclectic mix they all had a part in creating. Open and mostly empty pizza boxes sat on his desk while a small cooler still half full of coke sat on Theo's. Brett's holy water bottle of flavored vodka sat next to another water bottle with real water, just in case a teacher came in and they needed a decoy.

Josh and Brett took the top half of Theo's bed, sitting pressed together. Tracy laid sideways across the foot, her legs up against the wall, and her head hung over the side of the bed and between her girlfriends'. Hayden and Gwen sat on the floor, their hands intertwined.

Mason and Corey were snuggled together at one end of Liam's bed. Theo sat near them, his arms open. Liam sat in his lap. They shared a spiked can of soda and a slice of pizza.

"You four are disgustingly cute." Tracy took another bite of her own pizza without sitting up.

Theo tightened his hold around Liam's waist. "You're going to choke."

"Only if you guys make me gag."

"There's a blow job joke in there somewhere," Brett quipped, "but I'm too buzzed to find it." 

A knock at the door interrupted everyone's giggles. Liam opened it and swallowed his panic at the sight of Scott. "Are we being too loud?" he asked.

Scott raised an eyebrow. "What? No, and you guys aren't the only ones taking advantage of the calm before finals. I just have a letter for Theo." He held up a plain white envelope. Theo took it with his thanks and Scott left 

"Is that..." Liam couldn't finish the question. His stomach flipped.

"What?" Mason asked.

Theo ripped it open. Everyone sat in quite confusion as he read. "I got it." He grinned and Liam threw his arms around Theo's neck.

"Come on, share the joy!" Tracy demanded.

"You guys know I've been deciding between Berkeley and Columbia? Money has been the deciding factor, but with the Paige Krasikeva Memorial Scholarship it isn't anymore and I can follow my boyfriend to New York."

The gathered friends all gave cheers and congratulated him. "Damn, I was hoping we could be roommates." Brett smiled.

"How's your family going to take you moving across the country?" Corey asked.

Theo shrugged. "We're all good now. After Liam and I spent most of spring break in Beacon Hills. My grandma and mom are practically planning our wedding, and I'm spending the summer working with my dad. Construction is going to suck, but I'll have some decent savings for school."

"I bet they're taking it better than my family took the news of my gap year." Mason buried his face in Corey's shoulder. 

"Did you tell them about the contest?" Hayden asked. A-Chimera had applied and been selected as contestants for a reality show for acapella groups. Winning would mean a recording contract and large cash prize. Filming didn't start until fall, so they had to postpone college to compete.

Mason nodded. "They think it's a dumb choice but they agree it's my choice to make.

Theo sat back on the bed. Liam sat in his lap and said, "Just think how they'll react when you guys win and you never go to college." Mason's eyes got wide and everyone fell back to laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me though this. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.


End file.
